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Class _D^LL5 / 
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COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



ESSENTIALS 



OF 



PSYCHOLOGY 



BY 



COLIN S. BUELL, M.A. 

PRINCIPAL OF THE WILLIAMS MEMORIAL INSTITUTE 
NEW LONDON, CONNECTICUT 



BOSTON, U.S.A. 
GINN & COMPANY, PUBLISHERS 

1898 






14985 

Copyright, 1898 
By COLIN S. BUELL 



ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 




1890^ 



LC 



Control Numb 



er 




tnip96 025780 



PREFACE. 



It has long been a favorite theory of the author that 
even the more profound subjects are capable of compre- 
hension by the average high-school student, if presented 
in the simplicity of the truth. It is in accordance with 
this theory that this book has been prepared. 

For several years it has been the author's privilege 
and pleasure to lead a class, varying in numbers from 
twenty-five to forty, through the delightful paths of 
psychological science. The main difficulty has been 
in securing a text-book .that would give just what was 
needed, and allow at tfie' same time that privilege 
which all intelligent beings should enjoy — a privilege 
too often lost sight 'bf in the preparation of text-books 
— the privilege of doing a little independent thinking. 
The condensed editions of the_ longer treatises seemed 
to retain too much of the university flavor, too much 
of the philosophy of the subject, while for a psychology 
suited exactly to the needs of the normal and high 
school there seemed to be a growing demand. With 



iv PREFACE. 

the intention of gratifying the author's own pupils, and 
many friends of more advanced age, and with the hope 
that in so doing he might also reach the wants of 
others, the preparation of this little book has been 
undertaken. 

The author disclaims any great originality in the 
subject-matter. Indeed, with such writers in English 
in the field as James, Sully, Ladd, and many others, to 
say nothing of numerous German authors, originality 
would seem to be hardly possible. The method of 
treatment, the choice of the subjects treated, and the 
order of treatment are, however, so far as he knows, 
his own. 

It is hoped that the style which has been adopted 
will meet the wants of students in high and normal 
schools, and at the same time will not seem too 
familiar for that large number of people who are 
anxious to learn something of Psychology in connec- 
tion with their ordinary reading. The paragraphs have 
been arranged with special reference to the needs of 
the student, and the side-heads will suit his conven- 
ience in reviews, and also permit the use of the 
topical method. 

The author has found himself constantly tempted to 
a fuller discussion of many topics, but, having set the 
limits beforehand, has rigidly held himself within bounds. 



PREFACE. V 

The questions and problems, some of which may 
seem trivial, others too difficult, will be found to render 
valuable assistance in attaining one of the objects of 
the book, the development of the psychologic faculties 
of the student. All these questions and problems, as 
well as the illustrations and examples, — which are 
very few in number, — are but suggestive in character, 
and will, of course, be supplemented by those who may 
use the book. Doubtless some assistance will be needed 
occasionally, but it should not be given until the student 
has failed to answer for himself; for "A man's reach 
should exceed his grasp." 

In order that the results of independent investiga- 
tions may be rendered permanent, a number of blank 
pages will be found at the end of the book, following 
the index, upon which the student may note his 
conclusions. 

The author expresses his thanks to all those who 
have assisted in the preparation of this book. Espe- 
cial mention should be made of Prof. William James, 
of Harvard, who has made several valuable sugges- 
tions, and of Dr. A. F. Blaisdell, who has kindly 
permitted the use of several cuts from his Practical 

Physiology. 

COLIN S. BUELL. 

New London, Conn., July 27, 1898. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 
Introduction 1-23 

CHAPTER II. 

The Senses — Taste and Smell . . . . . 24-35 

CHAPTER III. 
The Senses — Hearing 36-48 

CHAPTER IV. 

The Senses — Sight 49-71 

CHAPTER V. 

The Senses — Touch 72-88 

CHAPTER VI. 
Sensation — Perception 89-103 

CHAPTER VII. 
Attention 104-120 

CHAPTER VIII. 
Memory 121-145 



Vlll CONTENTS. 

PAGES 

CHAPTER IX. 

Imagination ' , . . 146-160 

CHAPTER X. 
Thought 161-180 

CHAPTER XL 
Feeling 181-204 

CHAPTER XII. 
Will 205-232 



ESSENTIALS OF PSYCHOLOGY. 



-0-0i©400- 



CHAPTER I. 

INTRODUCTION. 

During the last few years changes in the methods of 
studying Psychology have taken place, which, because 
of their nature and extent, have 2fiven rise ^ ., ^ , . 

' ^ Two Schools of 

to the terms ''Old Psychology" and ''New Psychology. 
Psychology." It may be well for us to know, at the 
outset, what these terms mean. 

The term "Old Psychology" is applied to the work 
of all the students of this science whose methods were 
based upon observation, introspective or ex- ^,, „ ^, 

^ ' ^ Old Psychology 

ternal, followed by speculative reasoning, defined, 
thus being more closely allied to speculative philosophy 
or metaphysics in many respects than to psychology 
proper. 

The psycholoo;ist of the old school ,, , , ^ ^,, 

^ -^ » Methods of Old 

needed only an occasional glimpse into Psychology, 
the outside world. He could shut himself up in his 
study, and, being himself both observer and observed. 



2 ESSENTIALS OF PSYCHOLOGY. 

could spin his theories upon the nature of mind and 
the causes of its peculiar phenomena, undisturbed by 
the fact that other minds in the busy world without 
might not agree at all, either in the phenomena or in 
the results of his deliberations upon them. Being thus 
shut in, he gradually formed a cult all by himself, using 
his own methods and his own peculiar forms of ex- 
Resuits of the prcssiug his idcas. As a result, this most 
methods. interesting of all sciences became a sealed 

book to common people, who could not spare the time 
necessary to master the vocabulary and the intricacies 
of psychological speculation. 

The ''New Psychology," on the other hand, is 
„ ^ , the term applied to the science as de- 

New Psychology ^•'• 

defined. vclopcd by mcaus of accurate investiga- 

tions and measurements. 

The psychologist of the new school takes nothing 
for granted. His study is a workshop and laboratory 
combined, wherein may be found numberless delicate 
Methods of New ^ud costly instruments for testing and 
Psychology. mcasuring the intricate processes of minds, 
both those of human beings and those of the lower 
animals. His results are expressed in the language of 
the common people. He is all the time in search of 
new material, and any person who visits his workshop is 
liable to be made the victim of some kind of experiment. 



INTRODUCTION. 3 

These delicate and costly machines would seem to be 
as effective in excluding common mortals from the 
study of this subject as were the methods p^^^^.^^^^^^^y ^j 
of the old school. It is quite possible, "^^ methods 

^ for common 

however, to make use of the methods of students, 
the ''New Psychology" in performing experiments 
within the reach of all, the results of which experi- 
ments will serve to elucidate principles, even though 
lacking the absolute accuracy to be obtained only in 
the extensive laboratory. 

We must not imagine that, because there is a '' New 
Psychology," the old is therefore obsolete ^,, „ ^ , 

■^ ^J ' Old Psychology 

and valueless. The results obtained by the ^*"^ valuable, 
old methods are remarkable, and, though lacking the 
accuracy of modern research, are still very valuable. 
In the following pages we shall find it Method of this 
necessary to use some of the material fur- ^°^^' 
nished by the *'01d Psychology," but shall hope to be 
able to translate it into simple, comprehensible terms. 

The word Psychology is derived from two Greek 
words, '^vxTj meaning soul^ and \6yo^ meaning science, 
the word soul beins^ understood to include „ , , 

'-' Psychology 

all the mental endowments of the human <iefined. 
being. Make a working definition of Psychology. 

The need and value of the study of this science 
become perfectly apparent when we consider that there 



4 ESSENTIALS OF PSYCHOLOGY. 

are few people who arrive at maturity who have noth- 
ing to do with the rearing^ and education of 

Need and value 

of study of children. The most important and valuable 

Psychology. 

part of a child is his soul equipment, and 
it becomes necessary for those of us who are to be in 
any way responsible for that equipment to know some- 
thing of the processes and laws of mind development. 
Parents and teachers especially should be well ac- 
quainted with psycholoo-ical laws, for they 

For parents and ^ r- j & > j 

teachers espe- are dircctly responsible for the children 

cially. 

under their care, and a mistake made when 
a child is young is often irreparable. That the matter 
has received too little serious consideration is attested 
by the condition of children of all ages in almost every 
community. 

But we should not study psychology only that we 
may know something of the proper methods of train- 
More immediate ^^S children. It has a more immediate 
interest. interest for us, in that it should help us 

to know ourselves better, and in this way it should 
lead us on toward the great end of all education — self- 
control. Let us bear this fact in mind, and let us 
judge of the value of the study to us by its effect upon 
our own mental development. 

Let us now consider for a moment the methods by 
which we may study the human mind. The most 



INTRODUCTION. 5 

obvious method is by carefully observing the actions of 
others. The states and acts of the mind Methods of 
show themselves more or less clearly in ^^^'^y*"^ "^^"'^• 
physical actions, and by observing these actions we 
may get at the mind behind them. We i. observation, 
commonly speak of our friends as looking sad or 
happy, as assuming attitudes of attention or being 
wrapped in reverie or profound thought. All these 
acts and attitudes are indications of what is passing 
in the mind, being the physical expression of the 
mental state. It is necessary to note. Errors in obser- 
however, that there may be several ^^*^°"- 
sources of error in our observations, and we shall 
need to be constantly on our guard against them. 

Among these errors may be mentioned, first, our own 
imaginations, which are apt to color and ,. ^^^ ^^^ 
distort the phenomena observed according ^"paginations, 
to the natural tendency of our own minds. For ex- 
ample, call upon one of your young woman friends 
who is the fond mother of her first child. Observe 
the movements made and the sounds uttered by the 
infant. You will not need to ask the mother to ex- 
plain these things, but you will doubtless find that her 
interpretations hardly agree with yours. 

If you are fond of children and your friend is not, it 
may be of interest to notice the difference in the terms 



6 ESSENTIALS OF PSYCHOLOGY. 

used when speaking of the Httle ones. That is to say, 

(2) Prejudice. our pi'ejiidices will often lead us into error. 
A third source of error lies in the fact that notkmz 

(3) Senses easily ^^ easier tJiau to dcceive the senses. We 
deceived. often say that ''seeing is believing," 
which might be true if we could only really see. 
Visit the police court and listen to the evidence. Is it 
possible that all these witnesses, who flatly contradict 
one another under oath, are perjurers .'' 

Next to this method of observation, which is so liable 
II. Scientific Ex- ^° ^rror, comcs the method of scientific ex- 
periment, periment. When we wish to find out any 
particular fact about the mind, we may be able to bring 
about the right conditions, and then, by accurate meas- 
urements, obtain the results for which we are seeking. 

A third method is the introspective method. This 
III introspec- ^^ ^^^ mcthod commouly used by the old- 
*^°"' school psychologists who make their own 

minds the object of observation and study. 

Still a fourth method may be mentioned. We may 
IV. Reading. study mcutal phenomena in connection 
with our reading. Indeed, though we cannot perform 
experiments upon the characters portrayed in books, 
we shall certainly find the study of literature from the 
psychological point of view to be far more interesting 
and helpful than from any other. 



INTRODUCTION. 7 

We should constantly bear in mind, however, that in 
all our study of Psychology we have noth- 

Psychology does 

ing to do with the material or immaterial not deal with 

. . nature of mind, 

nature of the mmd. That subject may 
be safely left to the metaphysicians. They may decide 
that mind is nothing but the physical disturbance of 
the molecules of the body produced by its contact with 
the outside world, or that it is the result of a chemical 
combination of particles of matter, or some other 
equally plausible physical result. Whatever their 
opinions, supported by arguments no matter how 
unanswerable, the mind, fortunately for us, will con- 
tinue to work in the same old way, and to ^^^ ^^^^ , g_ 
produce the same results. It is the phe- "°"^^"^- 
nomena of mental action with which alone we are 
concerned. 

Whatever may be the nature of mind, we know that 
it has a close connection with and a pecul- 

Close connec- 

iar dependence upon the physical system, tio" between 

mind and body. 

It is thus related to the body in two ways : 
first, its condition depends largely upon the condi- 
tion of the body, and its action is also dependent upon 
physical conditions ; on the other hand, it controls 
and directs the body upon which it so largely depends. 

The seat of the human mind is the seat of mind. 
brain, which occupies the upper portion of the cavity 



8 ESSENTIALS OF PSYCHOLOGY. 

of the skull. The brain being shut in by the bones of 
the skull, some method of communication with the out- 
side world must be established, in order that the mind 
may be able to gather materials for its use. No doubt 
the Creator might have placed the seat of mind in the 
ends of the fingers, but He did n't. 

The pioneers in psychological study said that the 

mind came into contact with the outside world at the 

surface of the body, but anatomy has 

Means of com- 
munication with given us more light on that subject. We 

outside world. 

have found that the nerves furnish the 
means by which materials may be carried to the mind 
and by which orders of various kinds may be sent from 
the mind. These nerves form a complete telegraphic 
or telephonic system with ramifications throughout 
the entire body, so that the mind may be readily 
informed of all that is going on. 

. Nerves, as we learn from Physiology and Anatomy, 
are arranged in pairs. One nerve carries impressions 
Arran ement of i^^ward toward the brain, while its compan- 
°®"'®^* ion carries an order from the mind outward 

toward the surface of the body. The former are called 
afferent nerves (Latin ad =^ to or toward, /i?r^= carry), 
the latter, efferent nerves (Latin ^;ir=: out, /^r(9 scarry). 
The nerves from the extreme portions of the body 
seem to be unable to carry an ordinary stimulus to the 



INTRODUCTION. 9 

brain without reinforcement, just as in the case of a 
message over the long-distance telephone; so there are 
found, along the lines of the nerves, rein- Nerve ganglia, 
forcing stations, clusters of nerve cells (Fig. i), called 
ganglia (sing, ganglion), connected by the nerve fibers 
which resemble fine silk thread. 

Some of these nerve ganglia have a limited power of 




Fig. I. Nerve cells from the spinal cord. 

acting as little brains, in which capacity they govern 
the movements of certain portions of the special powers 
body under the general supervision of the °^ ^"'"^ gangha. 
mind, very much as a city is given certain powers of 
home government by the state legislature, in order 
that the latter may be relieved from some of the minor 
details of government, and may thus be enabled to 
devote its attention to more important matters. 



lO ESSENTIALS OF PSYCHOLOGY. 

Actions which are governed by the lower nerve 
centers are called reflex. It should always be remem- 
bered, when speaking of reflex action, 

Reflex action 

subject to brain cxccpt in the casc of the sympathetic sys- 
tem (explained under Medulla Oblongata), 
that all such action is, in the last analysis, subject to 
and dependent upon brain control. 

It is not within our province to go into a detailed 
description of the nerves and their action. It will be 
Two parts of the sufficicnt for US, in order that we may 
nervous system, understand their bearing upon mental 
phenomena, to divide the nervous system into two 
parts, giving a general account of the functions of 

I. Central. each : I. The Central System, comprising 
the spinal cord, the medulla oblongata, the cerebellum, 
and the cerebrum; 2. The Peripheral System, which is 

II. Peripheral. Subordinate to the central system, branch- 
ing out from it into all parts of the body. 

The matter of the spinal cord, which is enclosed in 
the spinal column for the sake of protection, is made 
„ . , , , up of a central portion of nerve cells and 

Spinal cord and t^ ^ 

its function. ^^ outsidc coating of nerve fibers. Nerve 
fibers and nerve cells are distinguished by their color, 
the former being white, the latter gray. The function of 
the spinal cord is to act as a main channel of communica- 
tion between the brain and the extremities of the body. 



INTRODUCTION. 



II 



Branching off from the spinal cord are thirty-one pairs 
of nerves, each having a posterior and an gpinai nerves ; 
anterior root, the posterior root beins: the ^^^^^ arrange- 

^ *^ ment and func- 

road by which the message from the extrem- ^^°"- 
ity reaches the cord and the brain, the anterior root 
being the road by which an order is sent from the brain 
to the extremities. These nerves have received names 
signifying their function in addition to the names given 




Fig. 2. Section of spinal cord. 

A, anterior fissure ; A ', anterior root ; A ", efferent nerves ; P', posterior root; 
P" , afferent nerves; G, spinal ganglion. 

them above. These names are sensory, which corre- 
sponds to afferent, and motor, corresponding to efferent. 

Can you give any reason why these 
names are appropriate } 

If the posterior roots of these pairs of nerves should 
become paralyzed or should be cut, we ^„ , , . . 

^ -^ ' Effect of injury 

might still be capable of performing all to spinal nerves. 



Problem. 



12 ESSENTIALS OF PSYCHOLOGY. 

our customary movements, but we should be incapable 
of feeling pain from any injury to the portions of the 
body traversed by these nerves. 

If, on the other hand, the anterior roots should be cut, 
Problem, what would be the effect upon the person ? 

Thus we see how much depends upon the integrity 
of the spinal cord. If the cord itself is injured, all 
Effect of injury ^^^ portious of thc body traversed by the 
to spinal cord, ncrvcs joining it below the injured point 
become paralyzed, because, the roads of communica- 
tion to and from the brain being closed, the brain 
cannot receive sensations nor send orders. 

Why is it that a person dies when the neck is 
broken ? You have doubtless read of those remark- 

Probiems. able cascs where the vertebrae of the 
spinal column in the neck have been dislocated and 
yet the person has lived. Can you give any satisfac- 
tory explanation of the phenomenon ? 

The upper end of the spinal cord, as it leaves the 
spinal column and enters the cranium, is enlarged. 
Medulla Obion- ^his enlarged portion of the spinal cord 
e^^*- is called the Medulla Oblongata. The 

medulla, while not a part of the brain proper, has been 
endowed with a very important function in the make-up 
of the human system. 

Under its special care is placed the action of the 



INTRODUCTION. 



13 



so-called sympathetic system, the heart and blood ves- 
sels, the lungs, and the digestive apparatus. Just 
think in what a critical condition we 
should constantly be if the action of 
these organs that we call vital were dependent upon 



Function of the 
medulla. 




Fig. 3. Anterior view of the medulla oblongata, 

A , chiasm of the optic nerves ; B, optic tracts ; C, motor oculi communis ; D, fifth nerve ; 
E, motor oculi externus; F, facial jierve ; H, auditory nerve ; /, glossopharyngeal 
nerve; ^T, pneumogastric ; L, spinal accessory; M, cervical nerves; N, upper ex- 
tremity of spinal cord ; O, decussation of the anterior pyramids; R, anterior pyra- 
mids of the medulla oblongata ; S, pons Varolii. 

our thoughtfulness. Some time we might forget to 
breathe or to make our hearts beat, and the result 
would be fatal. In order that the mind may be em- 
ployed in other concerns, all these matters have been 



14 ESSENTIALS OF PSYCHOLOGY. 

delegated to the medulla oblongata, and we can safely 
go to sleep without a thought of the question whether 
our hearts will continue to beat or not. 

We may regulate to a certain extent, however, 
the length of our breath, and may temporarily disturb 
Interference ^^^ regularity of our heart-beats ; we 
with the func- ^ decidedly disturb and permanently 

tions of medulla •' •' jr -/ 

oblongata. disarrange the action of our digestive 

organs by eating at improper hours, or by habitually 
forcing those organs to work upon indigestible ''deli- 
cacies." 

We have found that the power of the mind to act 
depends upon the condition of the body. If we wish 
Pr:_« .„„^,>;„„ to have stronsr, active minds, we should 

Prime condition o' ' 

of strong mind. ^^]^q cvcry cffort to kccp the vital organs 
in a sound, healthy condition. 

As an experiment, to show what an effect even a 
slight change in bodily conditions will have upon the 

Experiment, vigor of mental action, the following may 
be tried. Go out into the open air and walk for fifteen 
minutes. As you walk, inhale the air slowly while you 
take six steps, exhaling for the same number of steps. 
Gradually increase the number of steps for each inhala- 
tion and exhalation until you have reached a dozen or 
fifteen. Lift the arms slowly while inhaling, lowering 
them while exhaling. Note the effect on the circula- 



INTRODUCTION. 15 

tion and upon your power to take up your work after 
the exercise. 

What connection do you find between Problem, 
this experiment and the study of the medulla oblongata.-* 

We come now to the brain proper, which consists of 
two parts, the cerebellutn, or little brain, and the cere- 
bruniy or large brain. The cerebellum is cerebellum, 
situated in the lower, rear part of the cavity of the 
skull, and is divided into two hemispheres which en- 
velop the medulla oblongata. 

A peculiarity of the cerebellum and cerebrum is 
found in the arrangement of the substance of which 
they are composed. Here we find the 

Composition of 

gray matter on the outside, forming a cerebellum and 

cerebrum. 

thin coating for the white nerve fibers. 
This arrangement is rendered safe by the bones of the 
skull, and it is necessary because the gray matter needs 
room for growth. 

From this arrangement of the nerve matter in the 
spinal cord and the brain, what inference Problem. 
do you draw concerning the relative importance of the 
two kinds } 

The function of the cerebellum is to coordinate the 
action of the muscles. When this part of ^ *• „ ^ .» 

^ Function of cer- 

the brain is injured the person cannot ^^^^i""^- 
control his movements. A chicken with the cerebel- 



i6 



ESSENTIALS OF PSYCHOLOGY. 



lum removed tumbles about with no power of self- 
direction. Intoxicating liquors seem to affect the cere- 
bellum, and the result is that the person under their 
influence staggers. 




Fig. 4. Diagram (side view) showing arrangement of the cerebrum, cerebel- 
lum (A), and medulla {B). 

S, fissure of Silvius ; R, fissure of Rolando. 

The cerebrum, or large brain, occupies the larger 
portion of the cranial cavity. Its composition is the 

Cerebrum, samc as that of the cerebellum, — an 
outside covering of gray matter, called the cortex, and 
an inside mass of connecting white fibers. 



INTRODUCTION. 1/ 

It is divided into two hemispheres by a longitudinal 
fissure, extending from the front to the rear. ^ There 
are also two large fissures, extending, the Arrangement, 
one from near the level of the eye backward and up- 
ward, called the fissure of Silvius, the other from near 
the middle of the top of the head downward and toward 
the front until it almost reaches the' fissure of Silvius. 
This second fissure is called the fissure of Rolando. 




Fig. 5. Showing the principal areas of the left side of the brain. 

It will be seen by referring to Fig. 4 that the hemi- 
spheres of the brain are divided by these fissures into 
sections, as indicated. Maps of the brain Brain maps, 
have been made, and the different physical processes 
have been referred to their own particular tracts, a 
general idea of which may be obtained from the dia- 
gram, Fig. 5. 



l8 ESSENTIALS OF PSYCHOLOGY. 

It is worth while to notice, however, that no one has 
yet been able to locate the place where the mind really 
Maps unsatis. i^, whcrc the thinking, remembering, feel- 
factory. jj^g^ ^^ j willing take place. That is to say, 

no one is as yet able to tell me just what part of the 
brain the / really occupies as headquarters. 

The most interesting part of the brain is the cortex. 
Cortex. which is composed of nerve cells esti- 
mated to vary in number from five hundred millions 
to two billions. 

Recent investigations have brought to light some 

very interesting facts about nerve cells. If you plant 

a dozen peas in moist, shallow earth and 

Nerve cells and 

their develop- place them in a sunny window and dig 

ment. 

up one each day, observing carefully what 
has taken place, you will have very well illustrated 
what takes place in a nerve cell as we start it into 
action by a sense impression and then keep it active 
by memory, thought, etc. The result of these investi- 
gations seems to show that brain cells may be devel- 
oped almost indefinitely while the brain is in a plastic 
condition. As they develop they keep putting out 
roots upon which their strength seems to depend, just 
as the strength of a plant lies in its roots. 

Problem. What would naturally be the conditions 
under which brain cells might be developed ? 



INTRODUCTION. 19 

In infancy the cortex conforms to the shape of the 
skull. As the nerve cells develop, and their roots 
increase in number and size, more room ^^^^^ deveiop- 
is needed. The consequence is that the ^^^^' 
nerve cells, by crowding one another, push the cortex 
out of shape, and its surface becomes seamed and con- 
voluted. This process of brain evolution may be car- 
ried on till the brain ceases to be plastic, a time which 
anatomists place at from twenty-five to thirty-five years. 

If this is true, what effect should the Problem, 
knowledge of it have upon us as students ? Why } 

After the growth of the brain ceases, we are told, 
we are practically incapable of taking up any abso- 
lutely new line of work. Our brains have Limitations of 
formed their habits of working, good or "^^"'^ power, 
bad, and refuse to work in new ways. A few years 
ago the discoveries of scientists made it plain that this 
earth of ours is far older than six thousand years, and 
that it was many centuries in the building. The people 
who had always been accustomed to accept the figures 
of early Bible students as a part of the Bible itself, and 
the first chapter of Genesis as literal history, could not 
bring themselves to accept the truth, because their 
brains refused to work along the new lines. 

Not only do we become incapable of appropriating 
to our use new lines of thought, but we must also 



20 ESSENTIALS OF PSYCHOLOGY. 

keep exercising our minds along the old lines unless 

we wish to lose the power of using them, for the 

brain, iust as the body, will lose power 

Need of con- 
stant mental by disuse. We know that if we carry 

exercise. 

one arm in a sling it soon becomes weaker 
than the other, and that it will eventually lose all 
power unless exercised. So the brain needs exercise 
to develop or maintain its vigor. 

Connected with these higher nerve centers is the 
peripheral system, nerves having their ramifications 

over the whole body, ending at the surface 

Peripheral sys- 
tem and its of the body, serving to set in motion the 

value. 

communication between the outside world 
and the brain. If we possessed the central system 
without the peripheral system, we could gain no knowl- 
edge of what is going on outside. It is this peripheral 
system, then, that we want to study most carefully. 

If the central system is in a healthy condition, it is 
our business to see to it that it has an abundance of 
Need and material to work upon. This we can do 

method of fur- ^ cultivating and educating the different 

nishing the mind jo o 

with materials, gj^j ncrvcs of the peripheral system, or, 
as we generally call them, the five senses. If the five 
senses are all the time on the alert for raw material, 
we are all the time accumulating knowledge. 

In this connection, can you give any good reason for 



INTRODUCTION. 21 

the existence of the Kindergarten ? Of what practical 
value are the games and stories and songs? Problems. 
In the common-school system, what is the value of 
drawing, of modeling, and of music ? 

Let us now inquire how the connection is made be- 
tween the outside world, the world of matter, and the 
inside world, the world of mind. When ^^^^^^ ^^ ^^^. 
you touch your finp-er to any substance, mumcation be- 

-' J o J ' tween mind and 

as, for example, the point of a needle, a n^a"er. 
highly interesting process is set in motion. The 
needle point irritated the end of a sensory nerve. 
This irritation was telegraphed, in the form of a vibra- 
tion, along the nerve fiber to the brain, where it 
reached its proper nerve cell. There, in some mys- 
terious way, this impression, or vibration, was trans- 
formed into a sejisatiouy the character of which was 
determined by the character of the touch : if the touch 
was light, the sensation was a tickling sensation ; if 
hard, a painful sensation. The mind, seizing upon 
and interpreting this sensation, immediately sent a 
message to the finger-tip along the motor nerve, the 
companion to the sensory nerve affected, telling the 
finger to move away from the needle. 

In the case of the lower extremities the impression 
may not always be carried to the brain, and we have 
what is called reflex action. It seems that the brain 



22 ESSENTIALS OF PSYCHOLOGY. 

delegates some small portion of its directive power to 
the lower centers, always, however, with the reserva- 
Reflex action, tlon that the brain may assume active con- 
trol at any time. This is the reason why, when you 
have started out for a walk, it is not necessary that 
you should take care to direct every step. You set 
the body in motion and then turn your mind to any- 
thing you please. You converse with your friends, 
you listen to the singing of the birds, or look at the 
flowers and trees, and yet you are walking all the time, 
the movements being kept up by the reflex action of 
the nerve centers in the spinal cord. 

It should be noticed that this kind of reflex action 
is an acquired power. When the child is learning to 
j:, „ ^. ■ walk he needs to put his whole mind into 

Kenex action J^ 

acquired. '^^ -pj^g balancing of the body and the 

movements of the limbs are the result of continued 
and painstaking effort. Habit renders these things 
easy, but after a long illness people have found them- 
selves obliged to learn again the easy series of falls and 
recoveries of which true walking consists. 

Sensations, a general discussion of which as mental 
Sensations phenomena may be postponed until we 

classes of. comc to cousidcr Perception, may, from 

the physical side, be separated into two classes, general 
and special. 



INTRODUCTION. 23 

General sensations are those that affect the nervous 
system as a whole, such as exhilaration, 

General sensa- 

fatigue. Name others. tions. 

Special sensations aire those excited by special sensa- 
an affection of the end organs of the spe- 
cial senses. The general sensations are, to be sure, 
only modifications of the special sensations, the differ- 
ence being that the mind fails to refer the so-called 
general sensations to any one of the special senses. 

The special senses are five in number. Their func- 
tion is to receive impressions from the outside world 
and to send messages to the brain by 

Five senses, 

Stimulating the sensory nerves to action, functions and 

importance. 

Their importance can hardly be over- 
estimated, since without them the mind would have 
no materials out of which to weave its structures of 
thought and imagination. 



CHAPTER II. 

. THE SENSES — TASTE AND SMELL. 

Let us now consider the five senses and their func- 
tions, in order to discover the amount of material fur- 
The five senses, nished by cach to the mind. We may 
arrange them in the order of their importance, or, 
since that may be a disputed point, in the inverse 
order of the amount of material furnished by them, — 
taste, smell, hearing, sight, touch. 

The sense of taste furnishes the least amount of 
original knowledge of the world to the mind. Indeed, 
Sense of taste, tastc occupics a far smaller place in our 
experience than we are apt to suppose, as the experi- 
ments suggested in the following pages will help to 
show. 

The organs of taste are the tongue and the soft 
palate. In these organs are found the "taste buds," 
Taste organs. SO Called bccausc they somewhat resemble 
a bud in shape, which are connected with the gusta- 
tory nerve. 

The sensation of taste arises when any of these 
"taste buds" come in contact with liquid or soluble 



THE SENSES— TASTE AND SMELL. 25 

substances, and is doubtless due to chemical action. 
Only liquids or solubles can be tasted. If you attempt 
to taste insoluble substances you will find ^^^^^ j^ ^^^^_ 
this to be true. Try it with glass, iron '""^^ ^''*^°"- 
(not oxidized), etc. In trying all experiments for taste 
remember to stop the nose tight. Cotton stuffed into 
the nostrils will answer the purpose, though wax is 
better. 

Pure tastes are of four varieties, sweet, sour, bitter, 
and salt, or combinations of these. Some p^^^. varieties 
authorities add alkaline and metallic tastes, °^ *^^*^* 
but these are only combinations of taste and touch 
sensations. 

Using care to stop the nose, experiment with any 
substances that you may have at hand. Fruits, raw 
potato, onion, vinegar, weak acetic acid. Experiment, 
quinine, etc., may be tried. For the fruits, etc., scrape 
off a little with a knife and place it on the tongue ; 
liquids should be administered with a glass dropper, 
and only a very small amount at a time. 

All acids will be found to have the same taste, 
whether found in fruits or in the liquid form ; quinine, 
almonds, etc., are bitter, the only difference Resins ^^ ^g 
being in the intensity. You will probably ^^P^^^^ed. 
be surprised to learn how few substances you can name 
by the taste alone, unassisted by the eye or nose. 



26 ESSENTIALS OF PSYCHOLOGY. 

But if there are only four tastes, something mu^t be 
done to explain the intensely pleasurable sensations of 
Complex nature ^he epicure and, to a less degree, of every 
of tastes. Qj^g gjgg -pj^g truth is that most tastes are 

complex, the sense of touch, and especially the sense 
of smell, exerting a strongly modifying influence. The 
sense of sight also exerts a slight influence upon taste. 
Every one knows how much better a fine-looking apple 
tastes than one not so pretty, and how much better a 
well-served and well-garnished dinner tastes than the 
same food without these eye inducements to the appetite. 

The sense of touch enters into many of the tastes, 
producing now an agreeable irritation, as in the case 
Effect of touch ^^ swcct and sour substances, now a 
upon taste. puckcring of the surface of the tongue, 

as in salt and bitter substances. 

Many things that we eat are partly volatilized in the 
mouth during mastication, and the vapor, ascending 
Smell and taste, into the cavity of the nose, affects the 
sense of smell. 

If you have tried the experiments with fruits sug- 
gested above, you have found that the flavors of fruits 

Problems. depend upon what ? Are you now pre- 
pared to explain why people afflicted with cold in the 
head often ''lose the sense of taste " ? What is really 
lost in such cases ? 



THE SENSES — TASTE AND SMELL. 2/ 

While the elements of cognition obtained through 
the sense of taste may be fewer than we had supposed, 
let us not make the mistake of thinking that the sense 
is of but little importance. 

For each of the senses there is a point of starting 
and a point of vanishing, as it were, called the thresh- 
old of sensation, lower and upper. Thus Threshold of 
we find that a certain number of vibra- sensation, 
tions of the ether is necessary to produce the sensation 
of sound, another to produce sensations of light, and 
that there must be a certain degree of strength to 
any solution to produce the sensation of taste. 

For example, one part of sugar in two hundred of 
water will produce a sweet taste, one part of salt in 
twenty-five hundred of water will produce Threshold of 
a salt taste, one of sulphuric acid in thirty- *^^*^' 
five hundred of water a sour taste, and one of quinine 
in five hundred thousand of water a bitter taste. 

This subject of the threshold has received a large 
share of the attention of psychologists recently, and 
almost numberless experiments have been ^aw for 
tried in order to deduce a general law for t^r^s^oi'^- 
the threshold. While it seems impossible to find such 
a general law for all the senses, an approximate law 
for the threshold of change in sensations of pressure 
within certain limits has been discovered. 



28 ESSENTIALS OF PSYCHOLOGY. 

This law takes its name from the propounder, 
Weber, or, since the same principle was enunciated 
w»i,o,'. ^, by Fechner, it is sometimes called Fech- 

vveDer s, or J ' 

Fechner's, law. ^^^^ ^ |^^_ Wcber's, or Fcchncr's, law 
may be stated as follows : *' To produce a change in a 
sensation of pressure, the stimulus which produced the 
sensation must be increased or diminished one-third." 

But it is very evident that, if an immense weight 

were to fall upon your foot, the sensation produced 

would be just as intense as though the 

Law only 

approximately wcight wcrc ouc-third greater. In other 

true. 

words, there is a point beyond which an 

increase in the stimulus produces no perceptible change 

in the sensation. On the other hand, one mosquito 

weighing one-third less than another is felt to be just 

as heavy as his weightier kinsman. We find, then, 

that the law of change in sensations of pressure as 

propounded by Weber is only approximately true for 

sensations within a certain range of intensity. 

If you wish to experiment to find the threshold of 

taste for any particular substance, make, or purchase 

at the drug store, a solution of that sub- 
Experiment for 

threshold of staucc of kuowu Strength. For example, 

taste. 

if you procure a five per cent solution, 
one drop of this solution will contain five one-hun- 
dredths of a drop of the pure article. If now you add 



THE SENSES — TASTE AND SMELL. 29 

one hundred drops of water, you can find, by a simple 
arithmetical calculation, the per cent of the diluted 
solution. Now, with a glass dropper place a little of 
this diluted mixture on the tongue, adding water or 
the solution until there is the least perceptible taste. 
When the greatest dilution that will produce a sensa- 
tion of taste has been found, you have the threshold of 
taste for that substance. Of course no general rule 
for the threshold of taste can be made, because there 
is a different threshold for each substance tested. We 
cannot say that sugar is as sweet as vinegar is sour. 

The intensity of tastes, as we might conclude from 
the last experiment, depends upon quantity. A five 
per cent solution does not produce so intensity of 
strong a sensation as a ten per cent solu- *^^*^^- 
tion ; a few drops of salt water will not have the same 
effect as a mouthful. 

One of the strangest things about tastes is this, that 
one taste may be made to reinforce or strengthen 
another of a different kind, if the reinforc- Reinforcement 
ing taste be very weak. Sweet sensations °^ tastes, 
may be made stronger by the addition of a slightly 
bitter sensation, sour sensations by the addition of 
sweet. 

Again, tastes may be modified or entirely obliterated 
by the effect of temperature. Take hot water into the 



30 ESSENTIALS OF PSYCHOLOGY. 

mouth, holding it there for a short time. If now you 

put a little sugar on the tongue, you will miss the 

usual sensations. Try the same experi- 

Temperature and 

taste experi- meut, usiug ice instead of hot water, and 
note the result. Sugar is suggested for 
this experiment because the tip of the tongue is espe- 
cially sensitive to sweet things. 

Strangely enough, different areas of the tongue and 
palate seem to appropriate to themselves particular 
T „ ^. X tastes, and are more or less indifferent to 

LfOcation oi ' 

*^^*^^' other tastes than their own. Sweet and 

sour are best tasted toward the end of the tongue, salt 
along the sides, and bitter in the back part of the 
mouth. If you wanted to take a quinine pill, where 
would you place it in order to get the least bitter 
taste.? 

In general, we find that the knowledge material 
gathered for the mind by the sense of taste is quite 
Little knowi- Small in amount. The tongue by its posi- 
edge by taste. \^iqyi^ bciug placcd whcrc all food taken 
into the system must pass over it, seems designed to 
be the guardian over the nutrition of the body, passing 
judgment upon the suitability or non-suitability of the 
matter presented for passage into the stomach. 



THE SENSES — TASTE AND SMELL. 3I 

Smell seems to have been intended to hold the same 
relation to the lungs that taste holds to the stomach. 
Its first business is to judge whether the smeii. 
air about to be received into the lungs is of standard 
purity or not, but the sense has been educated into a 
position of aesthetic importance. 

The organ of smell is the olfactory area in the cavity of 
the nose, and the sensation of smell is pro- smeii organ, 
duced by inspiration, which may be intensified by sniffing. 

Only gaseous or volatilizable substances are capable 
of producing the sensation, which seems smeii produced 

by chemical 

to be caused by chemical action, though action. 

the exact nature of this action has not been as yet 

definitively ascertained. 

This sense is found much more highly developed in 
some of the lower animals than in man. The dog, for 
instance, makes use of smell, not only as g^^jj .^^ j^^^^. 
an adjunct to taste and as an air tester, ^"^'^^'s- 
but also as an instrument for the purpose of discrimi- 
nating friend and foe, or in discovering the where- 
abouts of game. The trained dog will follow a person 
accurately by this sense alone, with no apparent incli- 
nation to make use of the eyes and ears. Human 
beings cannot do this because they have learned to 
depend upon other senses, and have allowed the 
sense of smell to remain undeveloped. 



32 ESSENTIALS OF PSYCHOLOGY. 

And yet it is possible to cultivate smell to a high 
degree of sensitiveness, as we find in the case of tea- 
T^^ooK-i-f,--.. of tasters, who can tell from what district a 

FossiDiIities oi ' 

smell in man. sample of any of the standard teas was 
brought by the aroma, and in the connoisseurs of 
wines, who can tell where any sample of wine was 
made and its age by this sense assisted by the senses 
of taste and touch. 

If you care to see how sensitive the smell of the 
lower animals is, the following experiment may prove 
Sensitiveness interesting. Procure a sprig of catmint 
of lower am- ^^^ eutcr thc room where puss lies asleep. 

mals. Expen- ^ ^ 

™^"^- Notice how long it takes her to find out 

that there is some unusual attraction near. No person 
in the room has noticed the odor, probably. It need 
hardly be said that cats accustomed to having mint in 
abundance will care nothing for it, and you will need 
to try some other experiment, which, I am sure, will 
readily suggest itself. 

Though there are so many odors, we really recognize 
but few substances by the sense of smell. An inter- 
esting experiment is found in the game 

Experiment to 

distinguish that is oftcu played. The subjects of the 

odors. . ....-.- ^^.-_ 

experiment are blmdfolded and different 
substances are presented to their noses for test ; others 
are placed on the tongue to be tested by taste, or by 



THE SENSES — TASTE AND SMELL. 33 

taste and smell combined. The correct names of the 
substances are supposed to be given at once. Many 
mistakes are made, for many odors closely resemble 
one another. 

Because of this resemblance between odors, and 
because the same odor affects a person differently at 
different times, and may not affect two q^^^.^ ^jt^out 
people in the same way at any time, we "^™^^- 
have to note the very peculiar fact that odors have no 
names. Tastes are called sour, sweet, salt, or bitter ; 
colors are red, green, blue, etc. ; sounds are accurately 
named, and sensations of touch as well; but odors are 
unclassified and unnamed, and will probably continue 
to remain so for a long time to come. But, you may 
object, we speak of sweet odors, pleasant odors, etc. 
Very true, but these names come from the effect of 
the odors upon the feelings, not from any inherent qual- 
ities in the odors themselves. To me the odor of sweet 
peas is not pleasant, while most people are fond of it. 

It is worth our while to note that we have two nos- 
trils. Did you ever wonder why ^ Can Problems, 
you give any satisfactory reason why one nostril would 
not do just as well as two ? 

We must believe that no part of the body is abso- 
lutely useless, and two nostrils must mean something. ^ 
Let me suggest an experiment that may help you to 



34 ESSENTIALS OF PSYCHOLOGY. 

solve the problem. Roll two sheets of paper into 

funnel-shaped tubes. Tin horns will do equally well. 

Place the smaller ends of the tubes one 

Experiment to 

show value of in each nostril. Now place under the 

two nostrils. 

large end of one a bottle containing cam- 
phor, under the other a bottle of violet cologne. A 
rose and a geranium, or any other fragrant flowers, may 
be substituted for the camphor and cologne. 

Note carefully what occurs. Now what do you 
think about the nose as a single organ ? Is there 
Problems. any advantage in having a double sense 
of smell ? What, and why ? 

Why does the cook not notice the odor of boiling 
onions.'* This sense may become so fatigued as not 
Smell fatigue. to obscrvc odors. And yet, curiously 
enough, if a new odor is presented when the sense is 
fatigued, the sense will be found to be just as acute as 
ever. That is to say, the fatigue affects only the odor 
which is the cause of the fatigue. 

Take a bottle of camphor or alcohol. Close one 
nostril and inhale with the other. Y^ou will soon find 

Experiment, that the odor sccms to be consumed. It 
is only by shaking the bottle vigorously that any effect 
can be produced upon the sense of smell. Now bring 
some other odorous substance near the nostril. You 
can smell that without difficulty. 



THE SENSES — TASTE AND SMELL. 35 

What practical use of our knowledge about the 
fatigue of smell may we make ? Problem. 

If we should lose the sense of smell, we should be 
in constant danger of suffocation, because we should 
be unable to distinguish poisonous gases ^^j^^ ^^ ^^j^gg 
from pure air; but aside from this physi- °^ ^"^^"" 
cal fact, what knowledge of the outside world would 
our minds lose ? What aesthetic enjoyment should 
we miss ? Which sense would you prefer to dispense 
with, taste or smell ? Why .'' 



CHAPTER III. 

THE SENSES — HEARING. 

The sense of hearing is generally conceded to be of 
greater importance than either of the senses thus far 
Hearing caused considcrcd, becausc it is capable of being 

by vibrations of 

air. affected at a distance by the peculiar 

stimulus, vibrations, or periodic motions, of the air. 




Fig. 6. General view of the organ of hearing. 

.(4, outer ear; BC, middle ear; D, tympanum: FHK, inner ear, showing incus and 
malleus; N, Eustachian tube; OP, semicircular canals; R, internal auditory 
canal ; T, auditor^' nerve. 

The organ of hearing consists of three parts, the 
outer ear, which collects the vibrations and conducts 



THE SENSES — HEARING. 37 

them to the middle ear^ where they strike the tym- 
panum, whence they are conveyed to the irtner ear, or 
labyrinth, where they affect the auditory organ of 
nerve. For a detailed description of the ^^^""&- 
ear the student is referred to any text-book of Physi- 
ology. In the accompanying figure are indicated the 
important parts for us who are pursuing the study of 
sense-phenomena to remember. 

A great variety of sensations are produced by the 
vibrations of the air which enter the ear. The human 
ear is capable of being affected by vibra- ^^^ ^^ hear- 
tions ranging in number from twelve to *"^ sensations, 
sixty thousand per second, though not every ear is 
sensitive to all these vibrations. Besides the number 
of vibrations, we have also to consider the character of 
the vibrations themselves as proceeding from different 
sources. 

Press your finger intermittently upon the front 
of the ear so as to close the passas^e. ^ , ^ . 

^ o Sound produced 

You may produce a distinct sensation ^^ pressure. 
of sound. The same may be done by a sudden jar. 
Again, we can hear the blood rushing through the 
veins. Cover the ear with the hand. You hear a 
rushinp; sound which soon takes on a dis- „ 

<=> Sensitiveness of 

tinct pulsation, and if you place the other *^^ ^^^' 
hand over the heart you will find that the pulsations 



38 ESSENTIALS OF PSYCHOLOGY. 

in the ear correspond to those of the heart. When we 
place a sounding board near the ear the pulsation 
becomes much stronger and louder. 

Problems. What scicntific explanation of the fol- 
lowing lines can be given ? 

I have seen 
A curious child, who dwelt upon a tract 
Of inland ground, applying to his ear 
The convolutions of a smooth-lipped shell, 
To which, in silence hushed, his very soul 
Listened intensely, and his countenance soon 
Brightened with joy ; for murmurings from within 
Were heard, sonorous cadences ! whereby, 
To his belief, the monitor expressed 
Mysterious union with its native sea. 

Wordsworth, Excursion, Book IV. 

Those who are fond of diving know that when the 
water forms a bubble in the ear the rushing sound is 
very annoying. Can you offer any explanation } 

We may try one more experiment to show the sen- 
sitiveness of the ear. The person to be experimented 

Experiment, upon is blindfolded. We take for the 
experiment a very thin pine board, a strip of cloth, 
and a strip of wire net. The last two will be more 
conveniently handled if stretched upon frames. The 
operator advances the wood, cloth, and net, one after 
another, toward the ear of the person experimented 
upon, who tells which of the objects is presented. The 



THE SENSES — HEARING. 39 

number of correct and incorrect answers should be 
recorded as furnishing a comparative measure of the 
sensitiveness of the ear. Some people can tell cor- 
rectly nearly every time by the character of the vibra- 
tions entering the ear, while others only guess. 

All the sounds that we are capable of hearing may 
be divided into two classes, noises and musical tones. 
But what is the difference between a noise ^^-^oo „^ 

Noises and 

and a musical tone .? Simply the differ- "^"^^^^^ *°"^"' 
ence in the effect produced upon us. A sound that 
pleases us we call musical ; a sound that produces an 
unpleasant sensation we call a noise. 

Our estimate of noises and musical tones depends 
very largely upon the nature of our education. Sounds 
that would be called musical by the Chi- 

Estimate of 

nese would seem almost unbearable noises noises and musi- 

cal tones de- 

to the Germans. You and I, whose musi- pends on educa- 
cal education has not been carried to the 
extreme of refinement, are affected very differently 
from our friend whose ear has been carefully trained 
to detect the slightest discord. Moreover, sounds 
from the same source produce different effects under 
different circumstances. Place any musical instrument 
in the hands of one who does not know how to use it, 
and the instrument is made to give forth sounds that 
are anything but musical. The reason for this is what ? 



40 ESSENTIALS OF PSYCHOLOGY. 

It is apparent to every one that sounds vary in 
intensity, that is, that some sounds are louder than 
Variations of others ; in pitch, that is, that some 
sounds, m inten- ggunds are lowcr, some higher than 

sity, pitch, *-• 

quality. others, as the bass viol and the first 

violin ; and in quality, which means the difference 

in sounds caused by the sources from which they 

come. For example, the difference in the quality 

of the sounds coming from a tin horn and from a 

church organ, while they may be of equal intensity 

and of the same pitch, may be easily detected even by 

the uneducated. 

Scientifically speaking, we -mean by intensity the 

amplitude of the vibrations which produce the sound. 

Intensity of ^^ ^^^ sounds are produced by vibrations, 
sounds. ^Q j^g^y ^^^ -^ interesting to experiment 

a little in order to find out just what takes place. A 
rough experiment may illustrate amplitude of vibra- 
tions or intensity of sound. 

Stretch a violin string, a rubber band, or even a 
common string tight. Pull the middle of the string 

Experiment, a little to the side and let go. Repeat, 
pulling the string farther each time. 

What results do you get, and what do you take to be 
Problem. the causc ? By holding the eye directly 
over the string the vibrations may be seen. 



THE SENSES— HEARING. 41 

Of course the greater the intensity of the sound the 
more violent is the agitation of the air. Now what 
would be the effect of removing the hearer Problems, 
to a distance from the sounding body.^ Why.^ How 
far must the hearer be removed before he will notice 
any change in intensity ? Would it be possible to 
obtain a law for the threshold of change in intensity 
by means of experiments similar to those suggested by 
the last question.'* 

You have doubtless noticed that a person playing 
the violin or any stringed instrument moves the fingers 
of the left hand up and down the strings. Pitch of sounds. 
What does he do this for ? May we conclude that a 
short string will produce a higher tone than a long 
one? But what do we mean by a higher tone .^ A 
short string vibrates more rapidly than a long one, as 
you may prove for yourself by stretching a long and a 
short string just over a board on which very fine sand 
or meal has been sprinkled, and causing them to vibrate. 
We may say, then, that while intensity of sound depends 
upon the amplitude of vibrations, the pitch depends 
upon the rate of the vibrations. 

The rate of vibrations that we can hear ranges be- 
tween twelve and sixty thousand per second, any vibra- 
tions fewer than twelve causing nothing but a series of 
puffs, and any number above sixty thousand producing 



42 ESSENTIALS OF PSYCHOLOGY. 

no effect. But we must not suppose that every person 

can hear all these sounds. Many people cannot hear 

J . .^ ^. r the lowest notes of the organ at thirty- 
Limitations of O J 

different ears. ^.^^.^ vibratious, whllc to the majority of 
people all sounds of more than forty thousand vibra- 
tions are inaudible. We must conclude from these 
facts that the limits of sound are caused by the dullness 
of the auditory nerve. It is, for many reasons, a dis- 
tinct advantage to us that our hearing capacity is lim- 
ited, for if we were able to hear all sounds caused by 
all vibrations up to 100,000 per second, our nerves 
would be in a state of chronic distraction. 

Some animals can hear much higher sounds than 
men, others not so high as men. A man by the name 
of Galton invented a whistle which could 
be made longer or shorter by means of a 
screw-cap at the end. As the cylinder was shortened 
the pitch rose, and the scale could be read upon the 
Gaiton's whistle, graduated cylinder. With this whistle 
Galton went through the zoological gardens testing 
the hearing powders of the animals. 

Large dogs w^ere found to hear less readily than 
small ones. Why.? The ears of the cat, and all mem- 
bers of the cat tribe, are very acute. Can you suggest 

Problems. any rcasou why the cat should be espe- 
cially sensitive to sounds } Why should these animals 



Hearing of 
animals. 



THE SENSES — HEARING. 43 

be more sensitive to sounds than human beings ? 
Keeping the traditional acuteness of the ears of the 
Indians in mind, do you suppose there ever was a time 
in the history of man when he could hear just as well 
as any of the wild animals? Give reasons for your 
ansv/er. May we say that the ear may be trained to 
hear sounds of higher and lower pitch than fall within 
the normal scope? Why? 

All musical tones except that of a tuning fork, and 
indeed all sounds, whether musical or not, are com- 
posite in character. The tone of a tuning sounds com- 
fork is simple. All others are made up p°^^*^- 
of this simple fundamental tone, and others, which are 
called undertones and overtones. If these under or 
over tones harmonize with the fundamental, we call the 
resultant musical ; if not, we call it noise. 

It is the undertone or overtone that gives the 
peculiar character which we call quality. These under 
and over tones are caused by the material Quality of 
and shape of the resonant body. All sub- ^°""^^- 
stances have resonance. If you go out into a ** melon 
patch " and snap several specimens, you will find that 
each will giye back its own peculiar sound. Woods 
are full of resonance, as we find when they are made 
up into musical instruments. Metals, too, give back, 
each its own answer when struck. The human voice, 



44 ESSENTIALS OF PSYCHOLOGY. 

the organ, the violin, the flute, and the '' corn fiddle," 
all have their peculiar qualities, easily distinguished by 
any one. 

The shape of the sounding body has also much to do 

with the quality of the sound issuing from it. No one 

has any difficulty in detecting the differ- 

Shape of sound- 
ing body affects cucc bctwccn 3. hom and an instrument 

quality. 

of any other shape — as the fife or flute 
— between a banjo and a violin or a mandolin. 

These three things, then, we learn through the ear — 
intensity, pitch, and quality of sounds. Connected with 
What we learn ^^^^"^ ^^ thcsc subjccts, thcrc are a great 
through the ear. j^g^^y interesting topics for investigation, 
topics which are of more immediate interest to the 
musical scientist than to us. Some of the phenomena 
observed may, however, be indicated as properly bear- 
ing upon mental investigations. 

Every one knows that old people hear less readily 
than when they were young. Indeed, we take it for 
Deafness of the g^ntcd that old pcoplc are deaf, and raise 
^^^^' our voices when speaking to them. As a 

matter of fact, most deaf people are affected only in 
the upper tones. They can hear tones of low pitch 
quite readily. A low, distinct tone is generally heard 
far better by deaf people than the high scream with 
which they are commonly addressed. 



THE SENSES — HEARING. 45 

Does this fact throw any light upon the phenomenon 
so often observed, that deaf people are Problem, 
very apt to hear what is said when people are convers- 
ing in an undertone.-^ 

Still another strange phenomenon is this, that deaf 
people commonly hear better in a room where there is 
a noise than in quiet, in a mill or on the Reinforcement 
cars than in a parlor. This is explained °^ sounds, 
by what is called reinforcement, that is, one kind of 
sound helps to make another seem louder. The violent 
agitation of the air in a mill sets the tympanum of the 
ear in vibration. Now when another sound is pre- 
sented, as of the toice in speaking, the added vibra- 
tions to which the attention is especially directed 
become very plainly discernible. 

A person who plays on any kind of stringed instru- 
ment must be reasonably accurate in the detection of 
differences in tones. Though not quite Accuracy in de- 
so important, it is yet a matter of educa- ^^^^^^s tones, 
tional value that the ears of all young people should 
be trained more carefully than at present. 

Try the following experiment to ascertain whether 
your ear is accurate or not. Tune a stringed instru- 
ment to the exact tone of a brass instru- Experiment, 
ment. In case you are unable to secure these instru- 
ments for experiments, the following is within the 



46 



ESSENTIALS OF PSYCHOLOGY. 



power of any one. Stretch two strings, one of them 
fixed, the other capable of being made tighter or looser. 
Cause them to vibrate, and stretch the second until it 
produces exactly the same tone as the first. Absolute 
accuracy may be secured by the use of two tuning 
forks, one of which is provided with weights 
on the prongs (see Fig. 7). As the weights 
are moved the tone is changed. The grad- 
uated scale will indicate the degree of accu- 
racy attained. 

Some people are unable to distinguish 
between the pitch of one note and that of 
another. Such people are called tone deaf. 
This defect may result in the person's being 
unable to change the voice from a monotone. 
When the tone deaf person sings, he sings the same 
note, varying only the intensity of the sound. Some- 
Tone deafness, timcs pcoplc know two notcs. One young 
woman of my acquaintance has two notes, one of which 
she uses for soprano, the other for alto, and she sings 
the two parts equally well. Another friend of mine, a 
young man, who has only two notes, uses them alter- 
nately when singing. The result is perfectly ludicrous. 
Both of these young people are utterly unconscious 
of their defect, and sing out loud and clear. It is pos- 




FiG. 7. 



THE SENSES — HEARING. 47 

sible to overcome this defect in the majority of cases, 
if the afflicted person is willing to take a course of 
training. 

Fortunately, we are not all tone deaf, but we are all 
deaf to a certain extent. The degree of deafness may 
be roughly estimated by the '' railroad ex- 

AU are deaf to a 

periment," so called because commonly greater or less 

degree. 

used by railroad corporations to test the 
hearing powers of their employees. The subject of 
the experiment is seated in a room from which all 
disturbing elements have been carefully excluded, 
where as near as possible to perfect quiet ^^^^ railroad 
may be secured. The eyes are closed, experiment, 
that no temptation to devote the attention to sight 
objects may be presented. One ear is carefully sealed 
with cotton. A watch is then held near the other ear 
and gradually removed until it can be no longer heard. 
This distance is measured. Then the watch is brought 
from a distance until the subject can just hear the tick. 
The average of these two distances is compared with 
the normal distance of about twelve feet, and the 
degree of deafness for one ear is found. The experi- 
ment is then repeated for the other ear. The source 
of error in this experiment is to be found in the fact 
that from no room, unless built for the purpose, can all 
distracting sounds be excluded. 



48 ESSENTIALS OF PSYCHOLOGY. 

Of what use are two ears ? Do we hear twice as 
much as if we had only one ? Close one ear tight and 
Value of two i^S-kc souie obscrvations when you take 
^^^^' your next walk. Can you tell from which 

direction a sound comes without knowing the location 
of its source ? Can you tell how far away the source 

Problems. of a souud is with ouc ear ? Sounds 
being produced by waves of air, how is it that we judge 
distance and direction by using both ears better than 
we could with only one ? 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE SENSES — SIGHT. 

Of all the senses the sense of sight is most valued 
by a large majority of human beings. This is true for 
several reasons, among which may be 

Reasons why 

mentioned the fact that to this sense we sight is so 
delegate many of the results acquired by 
the observations of the other senses, miaking it a kind 
of pack-horse for- recognizing purposes. Again, the 
nature of sight is such that sensations may be gathered 
from the greatest diversity of objects, especially as 
regards position. With no other sense could we gain 
information about the fixed stars or planets, the moon 
or sun ; while the whole world of color would be shut 
out from our comprehension but for this sense. 

Then, too, the sense of sight seems especially fitted 
to work in harmony with any and all of the other 
senses. In connection with the sense of 

Works in har- 

touch, we connect the proper lights and mony with aii 
shades with the touch quality roundness ; 
when sight and taste work in harmony, we find our 
mouths <' watering" at the sight of a body whose color 
suggests an apple, and so on. 



50 ESSENTIALS OF PSYCHOLOGY. 

With the physiology of the eye as the organ of sight 
we have little to do. The mechanism of the eye will 
Mechanism of ^^ found to resemblc that of the ordinary 
the eye. photographic Camera in many respects. 

There is the lens, with the diaphragms and focusing 
apparatus, the screen, or retina, upon which the image 
of the object is cast "bottom side up and wrong side 
to." It is a very delicate instrument, and one of which 
we should take the very best of care. 

And yet, in spite of the fact that we throw so much 

responsibility upon the sense of sight, the amount of 

original information gained by means of 

Original knowl- 
edge gained by this scuse is not SO great as one would 

sight. 

naturally suppose. Shades of color and 
differences in intensity of light are the only things that 
come to us through the eye unaided by the other 
senses. You may feel a little inclined to disbelieve 
this at first. If so, just count up all the things that 
you could possibly know if you were blind, and you 
may succeed in convincing yourself. 

Let us now find out, if possible, what it is to see. 
By means of vibrations of the ether, rays of light from 
What is it to ^^^ ^^^ points of an object to be seen 
^^^' strike the eye, pass through the lens, and 

are reflected upon the retina at the back of the eye in 
an inverted position. But this is not seeing. It is 



THE SENSES — SIGHT. 



51 



only the mind that can see. Is this picture on the 
retina carried to the brain ? No. The retina is really 
only the enlarged end of the optic nerve. The arrange- 
ment of the nerve fibers will be easily seen from the 
accompanying diagram. 

There is a retina in each eye, upon which is produced 
a distinct picture of any object looked at, and an optic 
nerve, which acts as a conductor from each eye to the 




brain. 



Fig. 8. Fibers of the optic nerve. 

These optic nerves meet at the base of the 



bram, and a part of the fibers of each cross Arrangement 

of fibers from 

and join themselves to the fibers of the two eyes, 
other, thence proceeding to the occipital lobe of the 
brain on the other side from the starting point. 

Can you suggest any possible reason for such an 
arrangement ? The retina is so delicate Problem. 



52 ESSENTIALS OF PSYCHOLOGY. 

as to be affected by the reflected rays of light. What 
kind of a nerve is it ? 

It cannot send the picture to the brain, but it does 
send an impression to the occipital lobe, where it is 
Process. changed to a sensation. The mind seizes 
upon this sensation and interprets it into light or color, 
or, perhaps, making use of the associated impressions 
received through the other senses, the mind may inter- 
pret these light and color rays into the body from 
which they came. 

Problem. What fivc things of importance have we 
thus learned concerning the eye and sight .-* 

If we had but one eye, the image that would be 
formed would differ in some respects from that formed 
Seeing with one ^y two cycs. Many students maintain 
^^^' that we could see things in only two 

dimensions through one eye, which would cause every- 
thing to appear flat. Others maintain that knowledge 
of the third dimension, or depth, is original through 
sight, and that it comes to us through one eye only less 
accurately than through two eyes. It is certainly true 
that, whether as original or as the resultant of rear- 
rangements and combinations of the data furnished by 
the senses of sight and touch, we find ourselves pos- 
sessed of the power of interpreting into sensations of 
depth and distance the stimuli which act upon the 



THE SENSES — SIGHT. 53 

retina of one eye. One case which has come to my 
knowledge shows that even distance may be pretty 
accurately measured by sight when a person has been 
deprived of one eye since infancy. 

If we had but one eye we should be partially blind. 
It would be possible that an object several feet high 
might be right before us at a short distance without 
our seeing it unless we turned the eye. Blind spot. 
That is to say, there is a certain spot in the retina that 
is not affected by light, a spot that is totally blind. 
This spot is where the optic nerve enters the eye. 

o i X + 

Fig. 9. Test for blind spot. 

Suppose we try to locate the blind spot. Hold the 
book at arm's length and, carefully closing the left eye, 
look steadily at the character ^ in the t. ^ ^ , ^ 

J ^^ Test to locate 

figure. You will see the other characters ^^^^^ ^p°^" 
also. Keeping the eye fixed upon the c3 draw the 
book slowly toward you. Presently the -\- disappears. 
As you continue to draw the book nearer, note what 
happens. 

Can you devise any means of mapping out the 
space covered by the blind spot of the Problems, 
right eye } Of what shape would this space be .-* 



54 ESSENTIALS OF PSYCHOLOGY. 

To find the blind spot of the left eye look at 
Other eye. the -{-, closing the right eye and repeat- 
ing the experiment. 

The effect of the blind spot upon our seeing with 
one eye would, doubtless, be largely neutralized by the 
„ , ,. unsteadiness of the muscles. The eye 

Unsteadiness J 

of the eye. -g enable to gaze at any object steadily 

for any length of time. All the muscles seem to be in 
constant motion. 

If you close one eye and concentrate your gaze upon 
the accompanying figure for a moment, what do you 




Fig. 10. 

notice about the edges of the black and white spots ? 
What effect would this have upon the space covered 

Problems. by the blind spot ? Does this quivering 
of the muscles of the eye, with the consequent change 
of the point of regard, have anything to do with the 
visual measurement of the size of objects ? 

If you have ever looked through a camera, you have 
doubtless noticed that certain parts of the picture are 
far clearer than other parts ; that near the edges the 



THE SENSES — SIGHT. 55 

picture grows hazy and indistinct. So with the eye, 
there is a certain object upon which we focus, though 
we see more than this single object. Fix Field of vision, 
your gaze upon this woi^d. How much more can you 
read than the word itself } All that the eye takes in 
is called th.Q field of vision. 

In order to map out your own field of vision, try the 
following experiment. Upon the blackboard make a 
dot. With the eye six inches from the Experiment, 
board and gazing steadily at the dot, note the position 
in which you can just see the point of a pencil in the 
outer edge of the field of vision. How far can you see 
it } What use do school teachers often make of this 
fact .? 

We shall need a more accurate method of finding 
the extent of the field of vision before we can define 
its boundaries satisfactorily. Try the fol- 

Method of find- 

lowing. Fixing the gaze, one eye being ing limits of 

field of vision. 

closed of course (as in all these experi- 
ments), upon some object on a level with and directly 
in front of the eye, allow some person standing behind 
you to thrust a pencil forward until you can just see 
the point of it. Do this for four positions — outward, 
inward, upward, and downward. Note the angles made 
by lines from the eye to the object upon which the 
gaze is fixed and to the pencil point where first seen. 



56 ESSENTIALS OF PSYCHOLOGY. 

Can you see outward 85°, inward 75°, upward 70°, 

and downward 80° ? If these are approximately the 

Limitations of li^^its of the range of the field of vision, 
vision as affect- ^^^ ^g|| ^^^^^ ^^^^^ ^^^ difference in 

ing judgment of -^ 

distances. ^^LQ augles would have upon your judg- 

ment of distances in the different directions .'' Let us 
see. Draw a horizontal line upon the board. Now 
close one eye and keep the head upright. Draw with- 
out measurements a perpendicular line equal in length 
to the first, bisecting it and bisected by it. Now meas- 
ure each section of both lines and note the results. 
Explain any discrepancies. 

Under ordinary circumstances we see, not with one 
eye, but with two, which makes a vast difference with 
us. Binocular vision is the vision of 
space, which we call seeing things in 
relief. Let us attempt to find out just what this 
seeing in relief means. 

In the first place, is it possible that the nature of 
the pictures thrown upon the retinas of the two eyes 
Seeing in relief, is chaugcd iu any wa}^ by the use of two 
eyes instead of one ? Certainly not. Then we must 
look elsewhere for our explanation. 

Hold a thin book or a card directly in front of the 
face, vertical and with the edge toward you, at the dis- 
tance of about a foot. Look at it, first with one eye, 



Binocular 
vision. 



THE SENSES — SIGHT. 57 

then with the other. Do you see any difference in the 
pictures presented ? What we see with two eyes 
must, then, be a composite picture, made Experiment, 
up of the two pictures seen with the two eyes. 

This may be shown to be true by a great variety of 
"experiments, of which I will suggest only samples. 
Measure the distance between the pupils Experiment, 
of your eyes. Make two dots at this distance, say two 
and a quarter inches, apart upon a sheet of paper. 
Gaze steadily at and through the dots as though you 
were throwing them back of the paper into space. 
What do you see ? 

Again, hold two pencils perpendicularly on a line in 
front of the face, and four or five inches apart. Look 
first at the farther pencil. What do you see ? Which 
of the images belongs to the right eye. Problems, 
which to the left } Find this by closing one eye, then 
the other. Look now at the nearer pencil, and repeat 
the experiment as before. In this way, what have you 
learned about binocular vision ? 

The ordinary stereoscope serves very well to illus- 
trate the principles of binocular vision. Why is it that 
with the stereoscope we see only one pic- principle of the 
ture } If you have no stereoscope the stereoscope, 
following experiment will answer the purpose. Hold 
a card from the nose to the middle line in the figure. 



$8 ESSENTIALS OF PSYCHOLOGY. 

As you look at the circle with one eye and the dot 
with the other, they will soon travel toward each other 
until the dot will rest in the center of the circle. By 
drawing or clipping pictures and experimenting, you 
can produce any combination you wish. 

What effect would be produced by making two spots 

Problems. of different colors and looking at them 

in this way ? What use can be made of this fact ^ 




Fig. II. 

Binocular vision, or seeing things in relief, is thus 
found to be the combining of two images with their 
Binocular vision l^g^ts and shadows in such a manner 
defined. ^Y\3_t the sccing miud receives impres- 

sions which it interprets into three dimensions. 

We saw at the beginning that the original knowl- 
edge gained by sight is light and color. Some little 
examination of the phenomena of light and color may 
be of interest and value to us. 

Threshold of ^^ ^^^' ^^ ^^^ outsct. Confronted with the 
light. subject of the threshold of light. We 

know what darkness is, — the condition under which 



THE SENSES — SIGHT. 59 

the ether does not vibrate with a velocity sufficient to 
produce an effect upon ;the retina. But the cat can 
see in the dark far better than we. Why is that ? 

There must be some point where we shall just be 
sensible of the presence of light. Would the state- 
ment which has been made, that the Problems, 
threshold is reached when the light is '' equal to one 
three-hundredth of the light of the full moon reflected 
from white paper," be accurate ? Why ? What bearing 
has the question concerning the cat upon this subject.'^ 

A curious fact may be noted here. The sensation 
of light may be produced artificially. If a current of 
electricity be passed through the eye, a sensation of 
distinct sensation of liffht results. The ^^^^^ "^Y ^^-^ 

^ produced artifi- 

same sensations of light may be ob- ^^^"y- 
tained by pressing the finger upon the eye. It is 
a common experience with young people who are 
learning to skate that they fall upon the ice, some- 
times striking the head with considerable force. They 
declare that they <*see stars." Do they really see 
stars ? Points of light may be seen by causing a 
sudden jar to the optic nerve. 

Next to the threshold of light comes the threshold 
of change in the intensity of light. This Threshold of 

change in 

will be found to vary with different colored intensity, 
lights. Differences of one one-hundredth in a white 



6o ESSENTIALS OF PSYCHOLOGY. 

light may be detected by an ordinary observer, some 
persons being able to detect even smaller differences, 
while others cannot detect differences smaller than 
one seventy-fifth. 

Why are we unable to see the stars in the daytime ? 

Problems. Why are we able to see the moon some- 
times during a part of the day.-* 

It is a matter of no small importance that the 
strength of the eyes should be ascertained, in order 
im ortance of ^^^^ they may not be strained and injured 
ascertaining the ^ gchool work. Many a pupil has been 

condition of the ^ j l l 

^y^^- pronounced incapable of doing good work 

in school, or even of stubborn indifference to school 
work, inattention, and idleness, when the secret of the 
trouble was in the eyes, and the real fault lay, not in 
the pupil, but in the teacher, who failed to discover 
the defective vision. A physical examiner in one of 
our colleges recently said that a young man had just 
passed through his hands, one of whose eyes was 
incapable of seeing more than one-fourth of the 
normal distance, and yet the poor fellow had never 
found out that anything was the matter. He had been 
doing nearly all his work with one eye for more than 
twenty years without knowing it, and his teachers had 
never found it out. 

Any person may test the eyes with sufficient accu- 



THE SENSES — SIGHT. 6l 

racy to know whether a specialist should be consulted 
at once. Secure from any optician a test card. Test 
each eye separately by covering the other, and you will 
easily be able to determine the amount of variation from 
the normal. You should find out whether ,, ^^ ^ ^ * * 

Method of test- 

the variation is due to near-sightedness '"^ ^^^ ^^^^' 
(myopia) or far-sightedness (hypermetropia). For this 
purpose many schemes have been devised. The sim- 
plest, and therefore the best for the unprofessional 
examiner, is to ascertain the variation from the normal 
distance by moving the test card until it can be easily 
read. If moved toward the subject examined, you have 
a case of near-sightedness, if away from the subject, it 
is a case of far-sightedness. When the pupil's eyes 
show nearly the same power, near-sightedness may 
be nothing serious unless it be very marked. All 
cases of far-sightedness, however, are serious, and 
should be sent to a specialist for treatment at once. 
In case a test card cannot be secured conveniently, 
almost any one can make one that will do just as well 
by expendino; a little time. Letters the „ 

J ir o Home-made 

size of the following should be drawn, *^^^ ^^^'^' 
having the height five times the width of the compo- 
nent parts. Take a piece 
of cardboard and cut a hole 
large enough to show only one letter at a time. The 



BHGFP 



1* 

62 ESSENTIALS OF PSYCHOLOGY. 

slip may easily be arranged to slide past the hole. 
These letters should be read at sixteen feet. 

If the person being tested can see them at ten feet, 
would he be near or far sighted .'' If he could see them 

Problems. at thirty feet, what would you say to him.-* 
Give the equation in each case. 

If vibrations of the air are the cause of light sensa- 
tions, how does it happen that we see different colors } 
Different colors ^^^ auswcr to this qucstiou is to be found 
due to different ^^ ^^^ chano^cs in the rate of the vibra- 

velocities of ^ 

vibration. tions. The main prismatic colors — red, 

orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet — are caused by 
vibrations varying, as physicists tell us, from about 
460 billions in the red to about 730 billions in the 
violet rays. 

Is it to be supposed that the prism exhibits all the 
rays from a sheet of sunlight, or, if not, what becomes 

Problems. of the rays beyond the red and violet ? 
Must we conclude that the human eye does not trans- 
mit impressions from rays slower than red or faster 
than violet ? Look across a hot stove. You see '' heat 
waves," but no color. Why.-* 

Between the red and the violet we have a constant 
increase in the number of vibrations, a sort of chro- 
chromatic scale, matic scalc Corresponding to the musical 
scale, except for the fact that in the musical scale the 



THE SENSES — SIGHT. 63 

change is periodic, while here it is continuous. How 
many shades of color are there in the spectrum.? 

If the three prismatic colors — red, green, and 
violet — be combined, the result will be white light. 
These are the so-called primary colors. 

Primary colors 

By a mixture of these colors in due pro- and primary 
portions all other hues may be produced. 
The painter tells us that the fundamental colors are 
red, yellow, and blue; by which he means that he uses 
these three colored paints to produce the desired effects. 
Colors and colored pigments are different things and 
should be kept separate in the mind, as may be proved 
by mixing the fundamental colored paints — red, yel- 
low, and blue — and comparing the resultant with pure 
white. 

Colors may be tested and compared by the method 
suggested in the Standard Dictionary under the 
word spectrum. Any spinning top will 

Method of test- 

serve the purpose, provided it has a ing and compar- 
ing colors. 

handle to hold the color disks when 
made according to the prescribed formula. When 
the top carrying the color disks is spun, the colors 
are combined in the proportions of the disks. 

We found, when studying the sense of hearing, that 
not all ears are affected by the same range of vibra- 
tions. The same is true of the eyes. Strange as it 



64 ESSENTIALS OF PSYCHOLOGY. 

may seem, some people cannot tell one color from 
another. Such people are called color-blind. About 
Color blindness, onc pcrson in every twenty-five is troubled 
in this way. Some of these afflicted mortals are worse 
off than others, however, as we shall see. 

Some are red blind, and to these everything that 
would appear red to the normal eye has the same 
Red blindness, appcaraucc as gTCcn. They cannot tell 
the difference between a red and a green light. Two 
United States flags, one with red stripes, the other 
with green stripes, would look just alike. Moreover, 
every shade into the composition of which red enters 
would be affected. 

Green blind people furnish the complement to the 
red blind people. To them all colors into which green 
Green blindness, cntcrs are changcd, becoming mixed with 
red. A story is told of a young man who wanted to 
be an artist. So long as his colors were ready mixed 
and labeled, he managed very well ; but one day he 
dropped his box of colors. After he had rearranged 
them he painted a picture in which the leaves and 
the grass appeared a bright red. The young man was 
obliged to seek a calling in which color played a less 
prominent part. Was he red blind or green blind .-* 

Other forms. A fcw pcoplc are violct blind, and a 
very few are totally color-blind. Think what a misfor- 



THE SENSES — SIGHT. 6$ 

tune it would be to see everything in plain black and 
white [ 

Color blindness is due to a defect in the eye, and, in 
many instances at least, is hereditary. It is a matter 
of no small importance that we should q^^^^ ^^ <,oior 
know whether we are color-blind or not. ^ii"^"^^^- 
Sometimes life depends upon the ability to distinguish 
colors correctly. If we cannot tell the difference be- 
tween red and green we should not apply for a position 
on the railroad, where ''red means dangerous" and 
"green means safe," or on the sea, where the direction 
in which a vessel is going at night is indicated by the 
color of the light displayed. Persons applying for such 
positions are generally subjected to a severe test in 
assorting colors, but sometimes, after passing all the 
tests, are found to be color-blind. 

The easiest and most effective way to make a test 
for color blindness is to secure three skeins of silk or 
worsted dyed in the standard colors — bright red, pale 
green, and violet. Then procure a variety ^^^^ ^^^ ^^j^^. 
of shades, and, beginning with the violet, t)iindness, 
shade off from the standard color. After the violet 
take the green, and lastly the red. 

All people are totally color-blind in the outer edge 
of the field of vision. We can see an ah coior-bund 

at edge of field 

object before we can tell that it has any of vision. 



66 



ESSENTIALS OF PSYCHOLOGY. 



color. As it advances into the field of vision we 
know that it is colored before we are able to name the 
color. 

Mistakes of vision occur in other directions as well as 

in color. Every one knows how easily we are deceived 

Illusions. about the direction of a stick thrust into 

the water. That phenomenon is easily explained by the 

laws of refraction, but look at the accompanying figure. 




Fig. 12. 

What relation do the long lines A, B, C, D, etc., 
bear to one another ? Verify your opinion by meas- 

Probiems. urcmcuts. How do you account for the 
mistake ? Do the angles which the cross-lines make 
with A, B, C, etc., have anything to do with it .-* Prove 
it by making several other figures. Again, in Fig. 13, 
what is the relation of AB to CD ? Is the same true 
of Fig. 14. '^ How do you account for the seeming 
divergence of the lines ? 



THE SENSES — SIGHT. 



67 



In Fig. 15, if the curved line AB were produced, 
where would it cut the line CD ? 

When considering the field of vision, we found that 



>^ 


l/J^, 


^^^^=^rt 


^^=^dll 


i<?w 


w^ 



Fig. 13. 

the eye could take in more in the horizontal than in 
the vertical direction. Now if this fact be considered 
with reference to the two eyes when used together, we 




Fig. 14. 

shall find ourselves able to see, without turning the 
head or the eyes, in a horizontal direction about 170°, 
while the vertical limit will be about 1 50°. 



68 



ESSENTIALS OF PSYCHOLOGY. 



There will, then, be a natural tendency to distort and 
misjudge objects. Keeping the head in an upright posi- 




tion, draw (free hand) a square. Measure the length 
of the sides. Your square is really an 

Natural tend- 
ency to distort oblong. What seems to be the shape of 

objects. 

the two accompanymg figures, and how 
do their dimensions compare with each other ? Verify 
your opinion by measurements. 





Fig. i6. 



THE SENSES — SIGHT. 69 

Another form of illusion is produced by the breaking 
of space. In Fig. 17, how does the dis- illusions caused 

/t n • 1 1 • ^y breaking 

tance AB compare with the distance BC? space. 
In Fig. 18, is ^ or C the continuation of A ? 




ABC 

Fig. 17. Fig. 18. 

Such illusions as are illustrated in Fig. 19, where all 
the horizontal lines are equal in length, may be char- 
acterized as compound illusions, because compound iuu- 
they are caused by the same illusions as ^^°"®" 
those above, with the added element of failure of atten- 
tion. In the last two sketches under Fig. 19, the 
attention wanders from the lines to the space included 
by the lines, and the judgment is formed accordingly. 

< > >- < I 1 



Fig. 19. 



A person who knows just how the mind works will 
take advantage of these illusions to produce desired 



70 ESSENTIALS OF PSYCHOLOGY. 

effects. For example, dressmakers should know how 
to make a short person look taller and a tall person 
Effects produced shorter. This may be done by producing 
by illusions. ^^^ corrcct illusiou. When we look at a 
person the eye takes in the whole space included by 
the outline of the dress. This produces the illusion of 
attention. Then, too, combinations of color make a 
great difference under the principle of illusion by 
breaking. A mountain seems to be near when seen 
across a level plain, while another just as near, seen 
across a rugged, hilly, wooded country, seems far more 
distant. 

What effect would the wearing of a vari-colored or 

striped gown have upon the apparent height of a per- 

Probiems. SOU ? Show how you would make a short, 

stout woman look taller, and a tall, slim woman shorter 

and stouter. 

As we realize how prone to error our sight may be, 

we should become more inclined to sympathize with 

the people who tell stories of seeing sea 

" Fish stories" 

often caused by scrpcnts, and with children, whose stories 

illusions. i i • 

are too often set down as the productions 
of totally depraved imaginations. Such stories are 
probably, more often than not, the result of illusions 
no less honestly produced than those in the above 
illustrations. Children are especially liable to be 



THE SENSES — SIGHT. /I 

deceived, because they have not had enough experience 
of the world to counterbalance illusion with cool, calm 
judgment. ''Fishy" stories nearly always come from 
ignorant people, those whose higher powers have never 
received much attention or cultivation ; and, while it is 
unnecessary for us to be too credulous, we may give 
credit for honesty and truthfulness according to the 
light that a person possesses. 



CHAPTER V. 

THE SENSES — TOUCH. 

Of the five senses, the sense, of touch alone has no 
definitely located end-organ. Numberless nerves have 
Touch sensa- ^^^^^ cndlugs in the skin, all more or 
tions from all j^gg scnsitivc to imprcssions and excita- 

parts of the ••■ 

^°^y- tions. Touch sensations, therefore, may 

come from any part of the body. 

And yet, when we speak of touch, what particular 
Problems, portion of the body do we think of imme- 
diately ? Why of that more than any other ? 

What we call touch is probably nothing more or less 

than sensitiveness to pressure, reaching all the way 

from the highest degree of pressure that 

Touch and sen- 
sitiveness to we are able to bear to the lightest contact. 

pressure. 

Indeed, the sense of touch is so highly 
developed in some people that they feel the pressure 
of an external body even before contact. This pres- 
sure is transferred to the mind, where it becomes a 
sensation, and is referred by the mind to an external 
cause. In this way our world of touch is constructed, 



THE SENSES — TOUCH. 73 

We shall include under the sense of touch not only 
contact, but also sensations of pressure, Touch includes ? 
temperature, and the so-called muscular sensations. 

While it is true that nerves of touch may be found 
all over the body, it is also true that not all parts of 
the body are equally sensitive to contact. 

Not all parts of 

This may be shown by a simple experi- the body equally 

sensitive. 

ment. Take a pair of compasses, and, 
setting the two points at any short distance apart, find 
out what parts of the body feel the two points as one. 
Touch the points only lightly to the skin. You will 
probably find that the distance between the two points, 
in order that they may be recognized as two, must be 
varied considerably. Note the distance between the 
points recognized as two, for the following places : 
{a) tip of the tongue; {b) tips of the fingers; (c) palm 
of the hand; {d) back of the hand; {e) forehead; (/) 
back of the neck; {g) between the shoulders. 

This experiment should also bring out the fact that 
different persons have not the same degree of sensi- 
tiveness. A blind person, for example. 

Some persons 

will be found to be much more highly more sensitive 

than others. 

sensitive to touch than a person who can 
see. His eyes are of no use to him, and something 
has to take their place. All the other senses contrib- 
ute their little share to make up for the lost sense. 



74 ESSENTIALS OF PSYCHOLOGY. 

Touch and hearing especially become more alert. But 
is it because a blind person is endowed by nature with 
especially sensitive nerves of touch ? Not at all. The 
blind person is obliged to use this sense, and by con- 
stant practice the sense is educated to a high degree. 
Would it be possible for every one to educate the 
Problems. scusc of touch to the samc degree of 
efficiency ? Would it be a good thing for us to do so ? 
Why.? 

Again, when the nerve from any portion of the sur- 
face of the body carries an impression to the brain, the 
Localization of ^'^^^^ Tcfcrs the impressiou to somewhere 
sensations. ^^^^ ^j^^ right place; that is, the mind 

localizes the sensation. I feel a pain. My mind has 
no difficulty in referring the pain to the proper place, 
whether in the hand, the foot, or any other member of 
the body. So with mere contact. Even with the eyes 
closed, the mind experiences no difficulty in distin- 
guishing between the contact of the hand with any 
substance and contact of the foot with the same 
substance. 

The mind becomes so accustomed to interpreting 
sensations presented by certain nerves as coming from 
Phenomena ccrtaiu parts of the body that, if the par- 

resulting from 

localization. ticular member be removed, the mind goes 
on interpreting any affection of the nerve as coming 



THE SENSES — TOUCH. 75 

from the lost member. We often hear of people who, 
having lost a hand or a foot, complain of pain or 
cramps in the lost member. This is due to some irri- 
tation at the exposed end of the severed nerve, which 
formerly extended to the member. The nerve had been 
in the habit of reporting affections and impressions 
from that member, and the mind continues to inter- 
pret these impressions in the same manner as before. 

And yet we cannot tell with absolute accuracy where 
we have been touched. You have, no doubt, had ex- 
perience with that will-o'-the-wisp tickling Localization not 

sensation coming from some point on the ^"^'■^^^• 
surface of the body, which you were not able to locate 
the first time when you attempted to rub it. 

The following experiment will show you in a rough 
way about what is your liability to error in localizing 
touch sensations. Take a soft lead pencil, or a pine 
stick dipped in graphite, and, closing your eyes, press it 
gently against the skin. Remove it and Experiment, 
try to touch the same place with the pencil point with- 
out opening the eyes. Measure the distance between 
the two places. This should be tried for several 
places — the cheek, the forehead, the back of the 
hand, the arm, etc. 

Do you find that the variations are equal for all parts 
of the body ? If not, how great is the difference ? 



76 ESSENTIALS OF PSYCHOLOGY. 

Which parts of the body are more accurate, the trunk 
Problems. or the flexible parts ? 

Suppose now that you extend the field of your inves- 
tigations a little. I\Iake the same experiments, but 
with several contacts at the same time. Do you find 
Problems, that the prescucc of several points of con- 
tact in unison has any effect upon the accuracy with 
which you can locate the points ? If so, how much ? 

In order to perform this experiment I would suggest 
that you take a thin pine stick, like the thin end of a 
shingle, and stick pins through it, dipping the ends of 
the pins in graphite in order that the points of contact 
may be easily located. This will show you how easy 
Puzziin the ^^ ^^ ^^ puzzlc thc scnsc of touch. The 
sense of touch, ordinary illustration of this principle is 
the oft-repeated experiment of Aristotle. All boys 
have tried it many times. Having crossed the first 
and second fingers, place a marble between the ends of 
the fingers. A pencil will answer equally well. It is 
almost impossible to realize that there is only one 
marble or pencil there. Why ? 

Again, touch accompanied by motion is more accu- 
rate than simple contact. Place your finger upon a 
Effect of motion poHshcd dcsk, for cxamplc. There will 
on touch. seem to be no irregularities in the sur- 

face, but if you rub your hand across it you will prob- 



THE SENSES— TOUCH. JJ 

ably find that it is not perfectly smooth. A better 
instance still is that given in most text-books. Lay a 
hair on any smooth, polished surface, such as a piece 
of glass, a china plate, or a smooth desk. Cover the 
hair with several thicknesses of paper. By rubbing 
the finger over the paper can you detect the location 
of the hair 1 

We have thus noted some of the phenomena of 
touch, and have seen how the sensations in the brain 
are produced. It is necessary to note Reaction-time, 
further that all this process takes time. When your 
finger is pricked, quite an appreciable amount of time 
elapses before the finger is moved away from the 
pin. 

This reaction-time (Why is the term appropriate ?), 
as it is called, can be measured very easily by another 
experiment. Let the class form a circle, each mem- 
ber allowing the fingers of the right hand to rest upon 
the back of the neck of the one standing Experiment, 
next in line. Some one should hold the watch and 
start the circuit, keeping account of the time. Let 
the starter press upon the neck of the one next in line, 
and let the pressure be passed around as rapidly as 
possible. The time that it takes this impulse to pass 
through the class will furnish a reasonably accurate 
estimate of the reaction-time for the class. The total 



yS ESSENTIALS OF PSYCHOLOGY. 

time divided by the number in the class will, of course, 
give the reaction-time for one member. 

What error would we be liable to make in finding 

the reaction-time for any one member by this method ? 

Problem. I have found by several experiments upon 

classes that it takes nearly ten seconds for an impulse 

to pass through a class of thirty students. 

In making this experiment, it must be observed, we 
are liable to error, not only from the fact that the 
reaction-time varies for different people, but also from 
the number of processes involved. This reaction is 
Reaction-time ^'^'^ovQ than the passagc of an impression 
complex. ^Q ^YiQ brain and thence to the finger-tips. 

There is the reception of the impression and the trans- 
mission to the brain, a physiological process ; the 
reception of the impression and the interpretation 
into a sensation, a psychological process ; the mys- 
terious mutation into a m.otor impulse and the trans- 
ference of this motor impulse to the fingers. There is 
also the time that elapses between the starting and 
stopping of the watch and the beginning and end of 
the experiment, respectively. A small matter, you say. 
Yes, but large enough to make us always just a little 
behind time. Scientists have learned the importance 
of taking this factor of reaction-time into account. 
Many differences in the results of scientific observa- 



THE SENSES — TOUCH. 79 

tions have, by determining the reaction-time of the 
observers, been cleared away. 

Of course there is a reaction-time for the other 
senses as well as for touch. In order that we may 
understand the importance of accuracy and the method 
of securing it, we will describe one of the simplest 
machines employed and give some of the results 
obtained. In the first place, there is need of some- 
thing that will make a record without loss of time. 
Such an agent is found in electricity. A record made 
by electricity will be as nearly accurate 

Method of find- 

as anything can be. The only difficulty ing reaction- 
is in rendering the record made by an 
electric spark permanent. But where there is a will 
there is always a way. A large tuning fork, making 
just one hundred vibrations per second, is so arranged 
by connection with a battery that it can be kept in 
vibration. To one of the prongs of the fork is fas- 
tened a pointer, which also vibrates at the rate of one 
hundred times per second. Upon a cylinder is fas- 
tened a strip of paper smoked in a candle flame. 
When this cylinder is placed in contact with the 
pointer and revolved, the pointer will trace a wavy 
line upon the smoked surface, each complete wave 
representing one vibration or one one-hundredth of a 
second in time. If now, at any time, the connection 



8o ESSENTIALS OF PSYCHOLOGY. 

in the circuit is broken, an electric spark will be pro- 
duced. This spark will cause a little explosion on the 
smoked surface of the paper, which will show as a dot. 
This will render the record permanent for study. By 
placing the person whose reaction-time we wish to find 
in connection with this instrument, his time for touch, 
hearing, and sight may be very accurately determined. 
The practical value of such an apparatus may be 
illustrated by its application in the case of astronomical 
observers. It has always been noted that 

Practical value 

of knowing our cvcu the most skillful observers did not 

reaction-time. . , . ^ . ^ , 

agree m the time at which planets crossed 
any given meridian. The trouble could hardly be with 
the planet, and how to overcome the difficulty was a 
problem. Five-hundredths of a second do not amount 
to much absolutely, but when carried through a long 
series of calculations, it is enough to destroy the accu- 
racy of the result. By taking the observer's reaction- 
time, the disagreements and errors may be greatly 
reduced, if not altogether eliminated. In athletic con- 
tests of all kinds this element is of great importance. 
Problem. Why do the crews on the river, the run- 
ners on the track, etc., etc., spend so much time in 
practicing '' starts " .'' 

Of still greater importance than reaction-time to us, 
as investigators of mental phenomena, is the threshold 



THE SENSES — TOUCH. 8l 

of touch sensations. According to Weber's law, the 
threshold of change is one-third. That is, if you rest 
your hand on a table and place a three-pound weight 
upon it, and then, having closed your Threshold of 
eyes, allow some one to add to the weight ^°"^^- 
gradually, you will not be able to detect a change until 
one pound has been added. A more difficult and less 
explored field of investigation is the threshold of touch, 
distinct from the threshold of change. My own experi- 
ments have not proved very satisfactory, but there is 
one that every one can try. 

Go out into a swamp and cut sticks of alder of 
different sizes. Drive out the pith and draw a thread 
through each piece. Now lower the small- Experiment, 
est piece gently until it rests upon the hand. You 
will probably not feel it at all. Keep on trying until 
you can just feel it. Weigh this smallest ball that can 
be felt. What threshold have you found ? Is the 
threshold the same for the palm of the hand as for the 
arm or the forehead ? 

Closely connected with change in pressure is the 
effect produced by an intermittent pressure of very 
light intensity. Place the finger of one intermittent 
hand so that it will be just in contact p'^^^^"''^- 
with the other hand. Pass it along over the surface. 
You can hardly believe that it is not a fly walking over 



82 ESSENTIALS OF PSYCHOLOGY. 

the hand. The trembling of the finger produces an 
intermittent pressure or contact, and the result is a 
tickling sensation. 

We shall find, too, if we try an experiment, that the 
temperature of bodies has an effect upon pressure. 

Temperature ^^^^ ^ P^^^^ ^^ ^^^y ^^^^ ^^°"' aUOthcr of 

and touch. ^^iQ same temperature as the body, and a 

third just as hot as you can bear it. These bodies are 
really of the same weight, but you will not believe it 
until you see them weighed. The mind interprets 
sensations of pressure produced by hot and cold bodies 
as being more intense than those produced by bodies 
of equal weight at the normal temperature of the skin. 
Problem. May this indicate that the mind is apt to 
mistake one kind of impression for another ? Explain 
the phenomenon. 

Temperature is, then, a subject closely connected 
with touch. Indeed, the connection is so close that 
we may call sensations of temperature a variety of 
touch sensations. Hot and cold are, to be sure, rela- 
tive terms applied to bodies, the vibra- 

Temperature 

areas on the tions of thc molcculcs of which are faster 
or slower than the vibrations of the mole- 
cules of our bodies. We are more or less sensitive to 
these differences in vibration according to the portion 
of the surface of the skin exposed to contact with such 



THE SENSES — TOUCH. 



83 



bodies. We find it necessary in winter to keep the 
hands and ears covered, because they are sensitive to 
cold and might be frozen. We need not cover the 
cheeks, because they are sensitive to warmth, and the 
blustering winds and frosty air only set them tingling; 
the blood rushes to them and they are in a glow. Thus 
we find that there are hot and cold spots in the skin. 
But these hot and cold spots are not found separated 
from one another, as we might fancy from the case of 
the ears and cheeks. You will find, if you perform 
the experiment indicated below, that the hot and cold 
spots are, as it were, interwoven, a map of the two 
appearing something like the accompanying figure. 



^ • • — 

• • • • ^* 









Fig. 20. Cold spots. 



Fig. 21. Hot spots. 



To make a map of the temperature sensitiveness of 
your own hand, you should first make an impression of 
the hand. Take a little plaster of Paris ^^^ ^^^ ^^^^ 
and, having formed a paste of it, lay your ^°^ Toma^e^ 
hand in it, pressing it down until you are *'^^™- 
sure that a full impression is made. Do not move the 



84 ESSENTIALS OF PSYCHOLOGY. 

hand until the plaster is set. You will then have a 
perfect map of the hand, with all the finer lines stand- 
ing out clearly. Any point on the hand can be located 
on this chart accurately and at once. If, now, you heat 
a sharp lead pencil and pass it over the hand, you will 
be able to discover what points are sensitive to heat. 
Each hot spot should be marked on the chart at once. 
To find the cold spots, cool the lead on a piece of ice, 
or by thrusting it into ice-water, and repeat the experi- 
ment. If you use different-colored inks for mark- 
ing, the same chart will do for both hot and cold 
spots. 

Another test for temperature, one very much simpler 
than the one just given, is the so-called "water test." 

Water test for ^^^ ^^^^ probably tried it many times, 
temperature. ^^^ ^^^ ^^ ^^jg couuection. Take thrcc 

vessels of water, one just as hot as you can bear with- 
out scalding, another ice-water, while the third is of 
medium temperature. Thrust one hand into the hot, 
the other into the cold water. Upon removing them 
put both together into the third vessel. You may be 
surprised to find that water can be both cold and hot 
at the same time. We sometimes have the same 
experience when taking hold of some article, not being 
able for an instant to tell whether it is cold or hot. 
Can you tell why .<* 



THE SENSES — TOUCH. 85 

These experiments may also indicate that contact 
and temperature spots are sensitive only to their own 
particular kind of stimuli. A cold spot 

Contact and 

does not respond to heat or contact stim- temperature 

spots sensitive 

uli, nor a hot spot to anything but heat only to their 

own stimuli. 

impressions. 

Find a cold spot on your hand. Can you prick it 
with a needle without feeling any appreciable amount 
of pain } Does the result of your experiment clear up 
any impressions that you may have had, Problems. 
or explain anything that you may have seen ? Can a 
knowledge of these things be of any possible use to us ; 
and, if so, what ? How does the fact that there are 
spots sensitive to cold and others sensitive to heat 
bear upon the theory of physics that heat and cold are 
the same thing ? Is it possible that certain spots on 
the skin may be sensitive to vibrations faster than a 
certain number and other spots sensitive to vibrations 
slower than that number, and how would this cause 
harmony between the modern scientists and the an- 
cients who declared that heat and cold were two differ- 
ent things opposed to each other ? 

Everybody knows that there is a normal temperature 
for the body. When the physician calls formal tem er- 
upon a patient he takes the temperature. ^^^^^' 
If he finds it above 98|°, he concludes that the patient 



S6 ESSENTIALS OF PSYCHOLOGY. 

has fever, and treats him accordingly. But the normal 
point for temperature varies slightly for different parts 
of the body, and also at different times. 

Sometimes we find a room exceedingly hot at 70°, 
Problem. whilc at othcr times we find the same 
room cold at the same temperature. What is the 
reason .-* 

When we are working our brains we may find, if we 
Effect of brain try the experiment, that the temperature 
wor on tern- ^£ ^^^ head riscs. For this reason it is 

perature of 

^°^^' never well to study in a room of high 

temperature. About 66° or 6y° is best for doing good 
headwork. 

You may remember how Dickens, in the Tale of 
Two Cities, makes Sidney Carton, when hard at work, 
keep a cloth wet in cold water on his head. Was that 

Problems, a whim of the author, or was it a sensible 
thing to do } What • does the rise of the temperature 
of the head indicate } 

Another kind of sensation comes from the nerves in 
the muscles, and is called muscular sensation. This is 
a kind of tactile sensation, or sensation of pressure. 
Muscular sen- differing from those already described in 
sations. volume. When you attempt to lift a 

heavy body, there is a distinct straining of the muscles 
which is separated in the mind from the weight sensa- 



THE SENSES— TOUCH. 8/ 

tion, and which is absent when a light body is taken 
in the hand. 

Still another variety of sensation comes from rota- 
tion. Children often whirl around until dizzy, and then 
turn the other way to '^unwind." They Rotary sensa- 
sometimes carry the process so far as to *^°"^' 
produce nausea. We find the same principle illus- 
trated in a game commonly played at young people's 
socials. The paper counterfeit of an animal is pinned 
in some conspicuous place. The young people are 
blindfolded in turn, and, after being turned about in 
both directions, attempt to pin the tail of the animal 
in the proper place. 

To investigate this sensation a little more carefully, 
place the subject of the experiment upon a piano stool 
or a study chair, blindfolding him. Whirl Experiment, 
him around for about a full turn and stop him suddenly. 
Let him note the sensation produced. Then turn him 
rapidly, first in one direction, then in the other. He 
will soon lose all idea of the direction in which he is 
being turned. 

The fact was mentioned that by whirling nausea 
might be produced. Many people feel the same 
effects when lying in a hammock, or when vertically 
rotated, even though the angle of rotation be small, as 
when sitting in a swing. We sometimes call the sen- 



88 ESSENTIALS OF PSYCHOLOGY. 

sation seasickness, and it is really the same thing. 
The cause is said by many of the best physiologists to 
Seasickness, be the violcnt Stimulation of the fluid in 
the semicircular canals of the ear by these rotary 
movements, just as when the boat rolls on the sea. 
The nerve leading to the brain is ''set on edge." 
This nerve and the pneumogastric nerve terminate 
in closely adjacent centers in the brain. It is main- 
tained that the stimulation of the nerve from the semi- 
circular canals reacts upon the pneumogastric nerve, 
causing a general sensation of sickness. People who 
are deaf from an affection of the semicircular canals are 
never seasick. Physicians say that by administering 
small doses of bromide each day for about a week 
before the voyage begins, they can generally prevent 
seasickness. 



\ 



CHAPTER VI. 

SENSATION, PERCEPTION. 

We have now made a study of the five senses, and 
have gathered some ideas of the materials which those 
scavengers pick up and bring in for the action of the 
mind. It is well that we remember that 

Office of the 

the senses throw open the gates upon the senses to gather 

material. 

roads leading to the mind, and that any 
study of mind which neglects the senses is like the 
study of electricity without a battery. But, on the 
other hand, having the materials at hand, it is neces- 
sary for us to know how the mind gets hold of them, 
and what it does with them. This part of the subject 
must deal more exclusively with internal phenomena. 
Experiments will be more difficult, because human 
beings differ so profoundly in their ways of looking at 
things; and yet, notwithstanding all the difficulties, we 
may be able to gain some information, and to reach 
some amicable conclusions. 

The immediate psychical effect of any action of any 
of the senses is called sensation. A pure sensation, 
sensation, however, should be simple, unaffected by 



90 ESSENTIALS OF PSYCHOLOGY. 

past experiences of any kind, a thing which has been 
impossible since the earliest hours of infancy. The 
above definition will answer all practical purposes if we 
understand that the sensation is complex. 

The nature of these effects upon the mind deter- 
mines the character of our knowledge of things, and 

Sensations and ^^ ^^ ^^^ mental powcr. Our knowledge 
knowledge. -g j^j-q^^ g^^d dccp Only as the sensations 

produced by the action of external phenomena through 

the senses are delicate and numerous. The person 

whose sense of sight is blind to the thousand things 

that present themselves to it every hour. 

The man that hath no music in himself, 

Nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds, 

who has no appreciation of the perfume of the rose, 
and whose sense of touch finds no differences in objects 
sufficient to set it vibrating in ecstasy, can have but 
little knowledge of the great world without, and his 
world of thought, as we shall see, is also narrow and 
obscure. 

Problem. As a foundation for all future knowledge, 
what would you recommend ? 

Just here it would be most profitable to study the 
principles enunciated by Froebel, the great originator 
of the Kindergarten. Note how he went to the very 
foundation of things, how he proposed to make use of 



SENSATION, PERCEPTION. 91 

the senses of the children, to train and bring them 
under control, and so to build up the mental power. 
The " three R's " are all very well in their ^^j^^ ^^ ^^^ 
place, but more mental power is the srreat Kindergarten m 

^ ^ *-' cultivating men- 

need, and it will never be attained until *^' power. 

we go down deep into the first principles and train the 
feeders of the mind, — the five senses, — so that sen- 
sations, the raw materials upon which alone the mind 
can work, shall be sufficiently numerous and delicate 
to furnish the ever active mind with all it wants to use. 
In order that any sensation at all may be produced, 
at least four things are necessary. First, there must 
be an external stimulus. Second, there 

Four prerequi- 

must be a nerve capable of being affected sites to sensa- 
tion. 
by and transmitting this stimulus. Third, 

a receiving agent is necessary, which agent must have 
the power to receive the stimulus presented by the 
nerves. Fourth, the stimulus must be so transmitted 
and presented as to affect the receiving agent. 

These conditions of sensation will also show the 
limitations to which we are all subject. Comparatively 
few stimuli reach the agent in such a man- Limitations of 
ner as to produce sensations. If we take, s^"s^t»°"- 
for example, the three senses affected by vibrations of 
the air, we shall gain some conception of the narrow 
limitations within which we are confined. Vibrations 



92 ESSENTIALS OF PSYCHOLOGY. 

of the air may vary in number from one to infinity per 
second. When the number of vibrations is fewer than 
eight per second, no sensation is produced. When the 
number ranges between the extremes of eight and 
sixty thousand per second, sensations are produced 
which the receiving agent interprets as sound sensa- 
tions. Above sixty thousand, though the number of 
vibrations constantly increases, no effect is noticed 
until they reach about eighteen millions, when the 
nerves of touch transmit them, and the agent inter- 
prets them as heat sensations. Passing on from heat 
sensations there is another long blank until we reach 
some 462 billions per second, when the eye receives 
an impression which is interpreted as red light. As 
we pass through the colors of the spectrum the vibra- 
tions increase in number until we reach the violet at 
733 billions, beyond which all is dark. 

Can you suggest why the colors at the red end of 
Problem. the spcctrum are called the " warm colors," 
and those at the violet end the ''cold colors " ? 

Sensations differ from one anoth'er in intensity (or 
quantity) and in quality. The intensity of a sensa- 
intensity and tiou is Varied by several factors. Within 

quality of sen- 
sations, certain limits, the strength of the sen- 
sation will be proportionate to the intensity of the 
stimulus. 



SENSATION, PERCEPTION. 93 

Why does a brass band attract children more strongly 
than a string band ? If a strong stimulus is constant, 
what will be the effect upon the delicacy Problems, 
of the sense ? When a parent or teacher habitually 
speaks to a child in loud tones of command, what is 
the effect upon the obedience of the child ? Why ? 

Again, we may materially alter the intensity of a sen- 
sation by turning the attention toward or away from it. 
If we have a slight headache and devote 

Effect of atten- 

ourselves to thinking about it, we may tion on sensa- 
tions, 
make it much worse ; or, by turning our 

thoughts into other channels, we may lessen the pain. 

The intensity of a sensation at any given time will 

be affected by our bodily condition at that Effect of physi- 
cal condition on 

time. If we are in good health, painful sensations, 
sensations will be weakened, pleasurable sensations will 
be strengthened. 

The intensity is also affected by the quality of the 
sensations, which, in turn, is changed by Qu^uty g^d 
the degree of intensity. intensity. 

The quality of sensations is, however, mainly depend- 
ent upon three factors. First, the source and channel 
through which the sensation is produced, Q^^ii^y depends 
as, for example, when we test any object °" ^' ^°"'^"- 
by the different senses, receiving sensatio.ns of five dis- 
tinct qualities. 



94 ESSENTIALS OF PSYCHOLOGY. 

Second, the quality is changed if the sensation is 
continued through a long time. A pleasurable sensa- 
„ T,. tion becomes painful when continued too 

2. Time con- a 

**""^^' long. Can you give examples ? 

Third, the quality of a present sensation is affected 
by the one immediately preceding, as is most easily 
3. Nature of provcd by the sense of sight. Look 

preceding sen- 
sation, steadily at a green color, then turn to a 

red color, and note the effect of the green sensation 

upon the new one. 

Sensation, however, is not knowledge. It is only an 
indispensable prerequisite to knowledge. It is merely 
Sensation not ^hc arousing of thc mind to activity. Up 
knowledge. ^^ ^.j^'g pQJj^^ ^^^q mind has been the pas- 
sive recipient of the influences brought to bear upon it. 

The first real action of the mind is the complex 

action which psychologists call perception. Perception 

(^per^=. through, and capio-^ take) is easily 

Perception and 

the elements Separated iuto two elements. First, a 

that compose it. 

sensation presented to the mind is imme- 
diately referred by the mind back into the region 
whence it came. Second, the sensation is referred to 
some particular body as capable of producing it. For 
example, certain vibrations of ether strike my ear, pro- 
ducing a sensation of sound. My mind refers the sen- 
sation back into the outside world, across the street, 



SENSATION, PERCEPTION. 95 

and to the impact of hammers upon nails as the cause. 
A house is building there. As we shall learn later, all 
the elements of knowledge are contained in this one 
experience, but the same is true of any experiment 
that might be suggested. 

The result of these two processes is to bring the 
object producing the sensation immedi- The percept, 
ately before the mind. This presented object is called 
the percept. 

If you try any number of experiments, you will find 
that it is impossible to receive a sensation without in- 
stantly referring it to some definite object pormation of 
in some definite locality, though occasion- p^"""?*^- 
ally this reference may be neither very clear nor very 
definite. But it must not, on this account, be supposed 
that the formation of a percept is natural from the very 
outset of our career. It is a growth. Children in 
infancy do not form clear percepts. Indeed, it is some 
time before they form percepts at all. 

If you have an opportunity to experiment with an 
infant, you will find it profitable and interesting to dis- 
cover at what age percepts of the different Problems, 
kinds of sensations are formed. Ask yourself such 
questions as the following, and carry on your observa- 
tions until you reach a satisfactory answer. How early 
in life does the child turn the head in the direction of 



96 ESSENTIALS OF PSYCHOLOGY. 

a sound ? At the first turning of the head does the 
child perform both of the operations noted above, or 
only that of localizing the sensation? How soon does 
the child follow with his eyes any bright object ? How 
far in visual perception has he advanced ? etc. 

Why is it that, when perception is mentioned, we 
always refer the term to visual perception ? And why 

Problems. is it that, if wc wish to be absolutely cer- 
tain of anything, we want it put in ''tangible form" ? 

As a matter of fact, the great mass of the elements 
of knowledge received by the mind comes through the 
T^,.v,o„^e- 1,4- two senses, touch and sio;ht. The most 

Moucn and sight ' & 

percepts. numcrous elements are tactual, such as 

size, shape, or form, distance, roughness, and smooth- 
ness, etc. ; while the eye, originally giving us only color 
elements, has acquired the power of judging of size, form, 
distance, etc., by transference from the other senses. 

In illustration of the manner in which this trans- 
ference of perception takes place is the true story 
Transference of ^f the boy, blind from birth, who had two 
perceptions. pets, a Cat and a dog. At last an opera- 
tion was performed by which the boy received his sight. 
But he could not tell which of his pets was the cat and 
which the dog by sight, until, taking one of them in 
his hands, he felt it over, at the same time looking at 
it carefully. He was forming a new kind of percept, 



SENSATION, PERCEPTION. 97 

and thereafter he had no difficulty in distinguishing 
his pets by sight alone. 

Even we who are accustomed to make use of our 
eyes for everything are easily deceived, as we learned 
in the chapter on sight. The next foggy Problem, 
morning just look out of doors and see how much 
larger objects look than when the air is clear. Can 
you explain it ? 

I said a moment ago that we always refer sensations 
to some particular object and to some definite place. 
You have probably wondered how we could do that if 
we did not know such an object and such a place 
beforehand, and how this new experience Apperception, 
adds anything to our knowledge. Such questions as 
these have caused many psychologists to discard the 
term perception altogether, as signifying that which 
is impossible in the experience of grown people, and 
to adopt in its place the term "apperception," mean- 
ing by this term perception in relation to previous 
knowledge. 

Using this term instead of perception, the answer to 
the suggested questions becomes at once apparent. 
The sound that I hear at the present time » ,. *• * 

J^ Application of 

is compared with former percepts. If the ^^^ *^'"™' 
same salient features are observed as in the other 
sounds previously heard, I at once give it a name. If 



98 ESSENTIALS OF PSYCHOLOGY. 

there are differences, each point of difference consti- 
tutes an addition to the sum total of my knowledge, for 
knowledge is really discrimination, the detection of 
resemblances and differences, and we grow in wisdom 
as we become able to detect these resemblances and 
differences more rapidly and more accurately. 

We never see things as they really are. All our 
knowledge is biased by our past experiences to such 
Knowledge an cxteut that a skillful observer could 

biased by past 

experience. tell the nature of our past history by 

our casual remarks about any nev/ experience. 

You have probably heard of the man who stood 
behind a tree and overheard the remarks of the pass- 

luustration. crs-by. The first man to pass remarked 
that the tree would cut into a large pile of lumber ; 
another noticed that the bark was of the very best 
quality ; a third mentioned the fact that its branches 
afforded a fine shelter for birds' and squirrels' nests ; 
and a fourth spoke of its symmetry of outline and its 
grateful shade. Can you judge anything about these 
four people from their remarks ? You see, no two of 
them formed the same percept of this one object. All 
perceived it in relation to the common, everyday expe- 
riences of their past lives — apperceived it. 

Apperception cannot be avoided. We should, how- 
ever, see to it that our experiences are broad enough, 



SENSATION, PERCEPTION. " 99 

SO that when we perceive a new object the relations 
to former percepts may not be so limited Need of forming 
as in the illustration just given. Above ^^i^ar percepts, 
all, it is essential that our percepts be clear. 

Do you think that you are in the habit of forming 
clear percepts ? Write down the answers to the fol- 
lowing questions, and then verify your Tests, 
answers. How many stairs are there between the 
first and second floors in your own home ? How many 
windows are there in the church that you attend } 
What is the color of your friend's eyes ? Draw a pic- 
ture of the street through which you most often pass, 
locating the buildings on both sides. Such tests as 
these will be sufficiently accurate to show us our own 
habits in forming percepts. 

It is well worth the consideration of young people that 
the perceptive power must be developed during youth, 
if it is to be developed at all. Very few perceptive 
people possess the ability to become accu- P°^f """^.^ ^^ 

* ^ ^ •' developed in 

rate observers after reaching the age of y°"*^ ^^ ^* ^^^• 
twenty-one. If we learn to perceive, we must do it at 
once. After the years of youth are passed we may be 
able to gain somewhat in clearness of perceptual detail, 
but not in power. The often told incident about the 
magician, Houdin, and his son, which has been dupli- 
cated in the experience of others, illustrates this point. 



100 ESSENTIALS OF PSYCHOLOGY. 

The magician has to depend upon the quickness and 
accuracy of his perceptions. Houdin, wishing to train 
his son, and himself also, spent a month in practice. 
As they walked rapidly along the street, they gave the 
show window of a store a single glance. Then they 
stopped to compare notes and to enumerate the things 
seen in that one glance. The father was the better 
observer at first, but before the end of the training, 
the son could far outstrip him, reaching a list of forty 
articles perceived at a glance so accurately as to be 
described. This is most excellent practice for any one. 
In these days we seem to be in danger of losing the 
power to perceive for ourselves. Before we visit a 
place we look over the guidebooks, or. 

Tendency to rely 

upon books in- worsc yct, visit the place guidebook in 

stead of upon 

our own percep- hand, sccing Only those things which the 

tive powers. 

guidebook commands us to see ; or, if 
not that, we see very little until we reach home and 
read about that which we ought to have noted on the 
spot. The publication of cheap editions of standard 
and other books, and the enormous production of books 
of all kinds have caused many people to give up per- 
ceiving except through the senses of favorite authors. 
When this is carried to excess, as is too often the case, 
and people attempt to read all the books that come in 
their way, reading-perception, if I may use the term, 



SENSATION, PERCEPTION. lOI 

poor as is that substitute for original perception of 
things, becomes dull and dwarfed, and a lassitude of 
the whole mental organism results. 

Young people while in school have editions of stand- 
ard works placed in their hands for study, so over-edited 
that there is no opportunity left for per- over-edited 
ceivinsf beauties of style or structure for ^°°^^ ^"'^ ^^^^^ 

^ ^ effect upon per- 

themselves. They are driven into a semi- ception. 
comatose perceptive condition by the editors, who are 
so anxious to show that they know all about the beauty 
of style, the depth and harmony of thought, that they 
can leave nothing to be investigated by the youthful 
reader. For this reason many percepts are formed 
third hand. Boys and girls gradually learn that they 
should prefer to know what some one says about an 
author, rather than to know the thought of the author 
himself. The result, so far as all formation of clear 
percepts through reading is concerned, is fatal. It is 
pedagogically unsound in principle, because disastrous 
to mental growth. 

It may be well, in closing this- chapter, to suggest 
some methods by which the perceptive power may be cul- 
tivated. Of course, cultivating perception to cultivate 
is tantamount to cultivatinsr the senses, ^^^^'°^ '^ *° 

*-* cultivate the 

with the added element of attention, for senses. 

an analysis of which we may turn to the next chapter. 



102 ESSENTIALS OF PSYCHOLOGY. 

No method of training will secure results without 
Practice needed, persistent practice. The suggestion of 
one method will probably call to mind many others 
equally good. 

Sight perception may be trained by the Houdin 

method. Dickens gives us practically the same 

method in his description of Fagin and 

Method of train- 
ing sight per- his treatment of the boys whom he was 

ception. . . i i • a n r 

trammg to be thieves. All of us read 
more or less. Do you look at every word as you read .'* 
The eyes can take in a large portion of an ordinary 
page just as easily as one word, if trained by persistent 
practice. It is said of a late president of Yale that he 
could read a book while turning the leaves in a lei- 
surely manner, allowing the eye to rest upon each page 
only for a few seconds. Try to take in several words, 
then a line, then two lines, and see if you do not 
improve. 

One of the best things for the perceptive powers of 
young people is that they be in the habit of associating 
Associate with ^^^^ thosc whose pcrccption is very acute, 
those whose Thcrc is nothing more effectual in arous- 

powers have '-* 

been trained. jj^g ^g ^q activity than thc cxamplc of one 
in whom we have confidence. What a difference it 
makes in the pleasure derived from a walk or a ride 
whether your companions are on the alert for all 



SENSATION, PERCEPTION. IO3 

beauties in scenery, for singing birds, for flowers and 
everything else that may be of interest, or careless and 
unresponsive to all such things ! 

Too much stress cannot be laid upon the choice of 
companions, for two people who are frequently together 
become more and more like each other. Gradually you 
and your friend will come to look at things 

Importance of 

from the same point of view. If he, or choosing good 

companions. 

she, cares nothing for things that will 
develop perceptive power, you will find yourself losing 
much of your own zest, for it is much easier for the 
person on the higher level to be dragged down than for 
the one on the lower plane to be lifted up. 

Before rapidity should be placed accuracy. The 
best method of securing accuracy is by careful anal- 
ysis. Form the percept of the whole by Accuracy before 

forming percepts of the parts separately '"^P^'^'^y- 
and in relation to the whole. Whether it be a land- 
scape, or a house, or a face, seize upon the separate 
elements, and you will then have a clear percept of the 
whole. 



CHAPTER VII. 

ATTENTION. 

We have now selected the materials of knowledge 
and presented them to the conscious mind through 

Summary. scnsation. The mind has grasped them 
through perception. We shall next trace the processes 
by which these materials are elaborated into thoughts, 
which constitute the highest product of the intellec- 
tual powers. 

The first thing to be done in the development of 

thought is to select the elements to be used. If the 

mind had no power to select, if all ele- 

Selection of ele- 
ments to be ments made impressions equally vivid, we 

used. 

should be in a state of constant chaos. 
For this reason the mind possesses the power of focus- 
ing itself, as it were, upon any element that it may 
select. 

This power we call attention. When we attempt to 
find an exact definition for attention we are met by 
difficulties. Like electricity, we may observe its action. 

Attention. discovcr the laws under which it acts, but 
it still remains an undefinable power of mental concen- 



ATTENTION. 105 

tration. Moreover, the mind not only seems capable 
of concentrating itself, but it also may so control the 
senses as to make any one of them take the precedence 
of all the others, even to the point of excluding the 
others from the field of consciousness. 

Attention differs from consciousness, which is the 
power of the mind to know its own acts and states, in 
that it is a directive power, its effects ^ 

^ ' Consciousness 

being traceable in consciousness itself. ^"^ attention. 
For example, we may be conscious of anger, but the 
power of attention may turn the action of the mind in 
another direction, and the consciousness of the pres- 
ence of even that disagreeable emotion may vanish, dis- 
placed by another under the directive force of attention. 
We shall need to examine this power, and to deduce 
the laws governing its action. There are two factors 
which determine the power of attention, p^ctors deter- 
The physical condition of the body is the ™'"'"g ^3"^ 

^ •' J power of atten- 

first factor. No one whose nerves are **°"- 
weak or who is in poor health can give the attention 
that might reasonably be expected if the person were 
in sound health. Nearly two thousand years ago 
Juvenal said: 

Orandum est ut sit mens sana in corpore sano, — 
It is a thing to be prayed for that there may be a sound 
mind in a sound body. 



Io6 ESSENTIALS OF PSYCHOLOGY. 

We may well echo these words in a slightly modified 
form. We should pray that every sound mind may 

1. Good health, have 3. sound body. Remember that any 
habit that weakens the nervous system or injures the 
health will detract just so much from mental power, 
and act accordingly. 

The second factor is to be found in the character of 
the stimulus to attention. A brass band will attract 

2. Nature of the ^^^ attention from a street organ, and for 
stimulus. |.^^^Q reasons. First, the volume of sound 
produced by the former is greater; and, second, the 
quality of the music is very much higher than that 
from the latter. It is not always true, however, that 
the stronger stimulus (in volume) arouses the attention. 
A ''stage whisper" is sometimes far more effective 
than the loudest shouting. 

The objects toward which the attention may be 
directed may be physical, objects in the world of 
ob-ects of matter, to be apprehended by means of 

attention. ^-^^ scnscs; or, on the other hand, they 

may be ideas, objects within the mind itself, states 
of consciousness, thoughts, emotions. As I came 
across the park a few evenings ago, a company of 
the local militia was drilling. The sentries had just 
been called in, and the company had received the order 
to "Fall in!" Then came the following orders: 



ATTENTION. 107 

" At/^;2TiON ! Carry — arms ! Forward — column left 

MARCH ! " 

Now why were the orders given with that inflection ? 
If the class will form in line and the teacher, or any 
one else, will give any series of orders without pause 
or change of inflection, you will soon discover the 
reason. Is it just as necessary to call the Problem, 
wandering thoughts of a company of men into line as 
their bodies } Before any number of men can act 
together their minds must be fixed upon the same 
object, in this case the commanding officer. 

Not only must the attention be attracted, but it must 
also be focused, centered upon one thing. When you 
are about to take a photograph, you focus pocusing atten- 
the camera upon the object that you wish *^°"" 
to be especially clear in the picture. Other objects in 
the picture will be visible, but the one thing focused 
upon will stand out more prominently than any other. 
So it is with the attention. We must be able to focus 
the attention where we will, making the single thing 
stand out clearly among all others. 

Let us see how far you are capable of doing so. 
Select one word on this page. Fix your eyes and your 
mind upon that one word. Can you make Experiment in 

focusing atten- 

the word seem to stand out separate from tion. 

the rest, and to be formed of letters about one-fourth 



I08 ESSENTIALS OF PSYCHOLOGY. 

of an inch high ? If so, you know pretty well how to 
focus your attention. 

While your attention was fixed upon the one word, 

the words about it were probably dimly seen at the 

same time. The attention may take in 

Attend to more 

than one thing morc than ouc objcct at a time. For 

at a time. . . , , . 

example, the musician can play the piano 
and at the same time maintain a lively conversation 
with a friend. Habit has much to do with such 
cases, of course. 

Problem. How many things can your attention 
grasp at once ? 

Again, there are two kinds of attention. First, 

involuntary attention, attracted in response to nerve 

action, very much like reflex action of the 

Kinds of atten- 
tion : i, Invol- muscles. Indeed, involuntary attention is 

untary. 

sometimes called reflex attention. Here 
the only question is, which object can present the 
strongest attraction ? for the mind flits from one object 
to another, always following the greatest attraction. 

The second kind is voluntary attention, which differs 
2. Voluntary. from the involuutary kind in that the will 
is present, and a sense of effort is distinctly felt. 

Give examples of each kind. Which kind do you 
think to be the more important ? Which kind do 
animals exhibit ? Which would you expect to find in 



ATTENTION. IO9 

children ? Which do you think is the stronger in your 
own case ? Can you study effectively in a room where 
people are talking ? Is it possible that Problems, 
some people never advance beyond the stage of invol- 
untary attention } Give examples from your own 
experience and observations to prove the correctness 
of your answers to these questions. 

We may now consider the laws that govern atten- 
tion. First, the attention is more or less likely to be 
attracted in proportion to the intensity of ^aws of atten- 
the stimulus. If the mind be directed ti°"^^-Lawof 

intensity of 

toward one object, and a more attractive stimulus, 
object come within the field of attention, the mind is 
very apt to leave the former and turn to the latter. 
Knowledge of this law may be applied in many useful 
ways. 

Why does the storekeeper display some of his pret- 
tiest goods in the front windows, building them up 
into artistic forms .-* Why, indeed, do we Problems, 
call the front windows of stores ''show windows".-* 
Why does the druggist place colored glass jars in his 
window, with a light just behind them } Is it true that 
the business man who can do these things most effect- 
ively is very apt to get the most trade } 

This law may also be applied in school life. The 
teacher who can present the strongest attraction to 



no ESSENTIALS OF PSYCHOLOGY. 

the pupil's attention will secure the best results. 
No teacher is of any great value in the class room 

Applications, who cauuot sccurc and hold the attention 
of the pupils. 

Stimuli may come from external sources, as in the 
cases just mentioned, or they may come from within. 
Sources of This is the reason why discipline may be 

stimuli. lasting in its effects. The consequences 

of an action are viewed beforehand in thought, and the 
mind is stimulated to action by its own working. 

Second, the attention is aroused by ctiriosity. All 
people are attracted by that which is new, or strange, 
or mysterious. I remember when the first car run 
2. Law of ^y electricity passed through the streets 

curiosity. q£ ^^^ ^-^^^ ^ crowd of pcoplc followcd 

it, doubtless with the expectation of seeing it come to 
a stop at the first heavy grade. They were curious. 
The thing was new in our streets. Men whom one 
would expect never to be drawn from their business by 
anything, dropped their ledgers and ran to the door to 
gaze on the new car. They had ridden on electric cars 
hundreds of times in other cities, but this was a new 
thing. 

Mention other examples where newness is the power 
that attracts the attention. Can you give any reason 

Problems. why merchants select new patterns for 



ATTENTION. Ill 

goods every season ? Why does the milliner trim hats 
this fall in a different style from that worn last year ? 

The strange and mysterious have a peculiarly fasci- 
nating power. A sleight-of-hand performer or a hyp- 
notic experimenter comes to town. A g^^.^^^ ^ ^^^ 
crowd of people can always be collected "mysterious 

^ ^ '' stimulate cun- 

to see the performance, because of the °^^*y- 
strangeness and mystery surrounding it. Scientifically, 
the phenomena may be capable of easy explanation, 
and yet, if we are incapable of producing the same 
kind of phenomena, our curiosity impels us to go to 
see some one else produce them. A large portion of 
the power wielded by the so-called " Christian Scien- 
tists " and " Faith Healers " lies in their appeal to the 
attention of people through curiosity. 

The third law may be stated thus : Things are apt to 
attract attention in proportion to their size. Espe- 
cially is this true if the size be unusual, s- Law of size. 
An elephant attracts attention more strongly than a 
horse; a giant draws a crowd of spectators if he 
appears on the street. 

This law is applied by business men in a variety of 
ways. Not long ago a hotel was erected in a certain 
city. The owner, instead of building it Application 
of the same size as other buildings, made ^""strated. 
it several stories higher than any other building in 



112 ESSENTIALS OF PSYCHOLOGY. 

town. The result was that the hotel could be seen 
from all the country round. All visitors to town must 
see the hotel as one of the '^ sights." In this w^ay the 
proprietor gets an immense amount of free advertising. 

Do you think of any similar cases ? How does this 
law apply in advertising through the papers ? May it 

Problems. be possible that a point will be reached 
beyond which an increase in the size of the advertise- 
ment will fail to secure a proportionate increase of 
attention, and, therefore, of returns for the invest- 
ment ? Where is that point, and how may it be 
found ? 

A fourth law is the law of adaptation. We direct 
our attention easily to those things that adapt them- 

Law of selves readily to our ordinary habits of 

adaptation. |-fg_ ^ studcut of literature finds his 

attention wandering from a conversation about busi- 
ness, if a group of people near him are talking over the 
latest book; a scientist can with great difficulty force 
himself to talk fashionable gossip when others are 
enthusiastically discussing some new departure in sci- 
entific methods within his hearing; a farmer finds his 
attention attracted by crop conditions and the state of 
the market in cereals, and so on. 

Most pupils in school find it far easier to study 
one lesson than another. Why } You will doubtless 



ATTENTION. US 

answer, Because they are more interested in one than 
in another. Yes ; but what is interest ? Is it not the 
result of fixing the attention upon any interest and 
subject ? When the attention is aroused ^"^"tio"- 
and fixed upon any subject, that subject becomes inter- 
esting. Those of us who find any subject of study 
uninteresting have never had our attention sufficiently 
attracted to that subject to arouse our interest. The 
problem that we and our teachers have to solve is, 
How may the attention be aroused ? If our lack of 
interest were due to the subject itself, no one would 
ever study it. We should never complain that any 
study is uninteresting. If we have any complaint to 
make, it should be directed toward the cause of this 
lack of interest, which cause generally lies pretty near 
home. 

I shall call the fifth law the law of motive. The 
attention is apt to be attracted by objects that will 
serve a useful purpose with us. A cer- ^aw of 
tain boy in school can never be induced "^°*^^^- 
to learn his lessons in arithmetic. The world of num- 
ber seems to be a sealed book to him. Presently he 
leaves school and goes into business, illustration. 
Suddenly he finds himself attracted toward figures, 
because by a skillful use of them he can get along 
faster, can do more business, can be of greater use to 



114 ESSENTIALS OF PSYCHOLOGY. 

his employer. He soon becomes an adept in the 
arithmetical processes which he formerly disliked so 
much. 

What is the reason for giving prizes in school ? Do 
you think the plan a good one, or do the disadvantages 
Problems. outweigh the advantages .'* Do you con- 
sider a prize a sufficiently high motive for doing your 
best in anything ? Does the " marking system " come 
under the same category as the prize ? 

Still a sixth law is the law of change. We find it 
practically impossible to keep the attention fixed upon 
6 Law of ^^y single subject for a great length of 

change. time. It is far easier to learn a lesson in 

geometry, for example, if we study it until it becomes 
difficult to keep the mind at work, then turn to some- 
thing else for a time, and at last come back to the 
geometry. The change seems to rest the attention. 

The unexpected draws the attention with almost 

irresistible force. Upon picking up a paper the other 

day, my attention was attracted by a pic- 

The unexpected 

draws the atten- turc. A man, grip in hand and coat-tails 

tion irresistibly. 

flying in the breeze, was running to catch 
a train, followed by the enthusiastic plaudits of the 
crowd of on-lookers. All the accessories that could 
help to make the thing ridiculous were present. But 
why should this picture be placed in the advertising 



Laws connected 
with these. 



ATTENTION. II5 

column ? Surely some one had made a mistake ! All 
was explained when I read this legend below: ''We 
are off for a little trip to the country, but we '11 be back 
early Monday morning to sell you," etc., and I con- 
cluded that some one had learned how to make a skill- 
ful use of this law of attention. 

Other laws might be suggested, but most of them 
would be found to connect themselves 
more or less closely with one or more 
of those already mentioned. 

Voluntary attention of the highest order consists in 
concentration, and produces many and varied phenom- 
ena. Many of you have, no doubt, seen voluntary atten- 
plaster masks of great men. Though they *^°"" 
are intaglios, you find no difficulty in making them 
seem to stand out in relief. In the following figure 
you will be able to look at the large end and so at 
the inner surface, or at the small end, and so at the 
outer surface, by directing the attention to the one or 
the other. 

A person who has a violent toothache sits down with 
an absorbingly interesting book. Presently the tooth- 
ache is forgotten. Why ? We take up our book and 
soon we cease to hear what people are Problems, 
talking about ; in fact, we become totally oblivious of 
their presence. What do you judge to be the cause? 



ii6 



ESSENTIALS OF PSYCHOLOGY. 



If the book is not interesting, we find it more diffi- 
cult to become absorbed in it. The will has the power 
to turn the attention in any direction, but 

Office of the 

will in atten- not to kccp it fixcd. Unlcss the succes- 

tion. 

sive points in a subject present a constant 
series of attractions, the attention soon strays off to 
something else, and the will must keep on turning it 
back to the subject in hand. This may serve to show 




Fig. 22. 



the relation between voluntary and involuntary atten- 
tion, and to explain why it is so much more fatiguing 
to study a subject in which we are not interested than 
one which presents a constant stimulus to the atten- 
tion. Added to the mental effort of the study itself is 
the effort of the will to keep the mind centered upon 
its work. For this reason it is said, very appropriately, 
that, " A person's power of attention may be con- 



ATTENTION. II/ 

veniently measured by the degree of persistence 
attained." 

Right here it may be well to notice the relation 
between attention and habit. This relation is recip- 
rocal. Habits once formed exert a pow- Attention and 
erful influence. If we have formed habits ^^^^*" 
of allowing our minds to run from one thing to another 
without direction, we must not be surprised if it is well- 
nigh impossible to hold them to any one subject for an 
appreciable length of time. On the other hand, all 
valuable habits are formed by the exercise of voluntary 
attention. When the habit is once formed the atten- 
tion sinks into the background, or is applied to some- 
thing else. 

Give examples from your own experience or obser- 
vation to illustrate the influence of habits upon atten- 
tion, and of attention upon the formation Problems, 
of habits. Why do we wonder at the skill of the ex- 
pert bicycle rider or club swinger ? How was the skill 
attained .? Does the expert need to keep in mind the 
movement that is to come next ? Is the following state- 
ment true } All skill is due to habits that have been 
formed by the frequent recurrence of the same idea. 

Now, if it is true that our ideas tend to form habits, 
it must follow that the ideas that hold possession of 
our minds most frequently will determine the general 



Il8 ESSENTIALS OF PSYCHOLOGY. 

direction that our lives must take. If noble thouo:hts 
are our constant companions, the habits formed by 
Effect of habit ^^cm will correspoud to the thoughts ; 
upon life. 1^^^ •£ Q^^j. attention is turned to ignoble 

things, the habits developed will surely be of the same 
character, and in either case our lives will show to 
what our minds have been directed. The only way to 
get rid of bad habits once formed is to displace them 
by good habits ; and the only way to form good habits 
is by turning the attention persistently toward the 
things that we wish to acquire. 

It is the function of education to direct the atten- 
tion into the right channels, and through it to develop 
^, .. , correct habits, both of thought and of 

h/ducation and ' o 

attention. actiou. It is a well-authenticated fact 

that continued attention to one idea excludes all other 
ideas. People of one idea are far too numerous. 
Such people have neglected to train their powers of 
attention in other directions, and have become narrow 
in consequence. The school curriculum should aim to 
cultivate power as well as to give information. 

Problems. Can you think of any classes of people 
who are especially liable to become persons of one 
idea.? What should they do to avoid it ? 

The attention becomes fatigued rapidly by intense 
application to one subject. This fact is taken advan- 



ATTENTION. IIQ 

tage of by the numerous ''professors " of hypnotism. 
The first principle of hypnotism is fatigue of attention, 
which finally puts the subject into a con- patigue of 
dition closely resembling somnambulism. ^"^"^i°"- 
While in this state the subject is especially sensitive 
to suggestions from the person who secured the atten- 
tion at the beginning. If you ever attended an hyp- 
notic exhibition, you have probably noticed that the 
experimenter never selects his subjects Hypnotism, 
and begins his experiments immediately. He always 
makes it his first care to secure the undivided atten- 
tion of his audience. Before going to the exhibition 
the attention of the people has been exercising itself 
in anticipation, and the strongest minds become easy 
victims to this fatigue. 

I remember one of these exhibitions, when it was 
announced that volunteers from the audience would be 
taken as hypnotic subjects. Before the illustration, 
evening arrived there were several lively discussions 
upon the nature of hypnotism and the power possessed 
by the hypnotizer. One man in particular was loud in 
his denunciation of the whole thing as a fraud, and in 
his declarations that no man could hypnotize him. 
When the eventful evening came he went to the hall 
with the intention of discovering and exposing the 
fraud. So absorbed did he become that he became 



I20 ESSENTIALS OF PSYCHOLOGY. 

the first victim, and when volunteers were called for he 
found himself on the platform before he knew what he 
was about. There, much to the amusement of his 
friends, he became as wax in the hands of an artist, 
and was made to perform in a manner strongly con- 
trasting with his usual dignity. 

It will be seen from this chapter that attention 
occupies an important place in our lives, determining 

Conclusion, largely the direction of our thoughts, and 
so of our hopes, aspirations, characters, and destinies. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

MEMORY. 

The elements of knowledge, collected by the senses, 
presented to and seized upon by the attentive mind, 
would still be practically valueless were there no possi- 
bility of retaining, modifying, molding, presentation to 
and recombinine: them and reproducing be supplemented 

•=* ■'•*-' by re-presenta- 

them at will. The presentative faculties, *^°°- 
while of great value as an adjunct, would be of little 
use unless supplemented by the re-presentative facul- 
ties, — memory, imagination, and thought, — in which 
last we reach the acme of intellectual activity. 

There seems to be a tendency among psychologists 
of the new school to consider memory, imagination, 
and thought as one and the same thing. It might 
easily be shown, however, that, though 

Tendency of 

modes of action of the same re-presenta- modem psychol- 
ogists. 
tive power, they differ in that they repre- 
sent different and progressive steps in the process, 
from simple reproduction of clearly formed percepts up 
to a finished product which, while containing the repro- 
duction elements, may be, as a whole, absolutely new. 



122 ESSENTIALS OF PSYCHOLOGY. 

We shall consider the three as distinct, in order to 
bring out more clearly the progressive character of 
this most important division of psychology. 

Memory may be defined as the power of reproducing 
any past experience in the form of an image which 
Memory defined, bcars somc rcsemblancc, more or less 
accurate, to the object recalled. 

For example, select some object with which you are 
familiar, and write a description or make a drawing 

Experiment, of it. Now comparc your description or 
drawing with the original. Let some one hold an 
object before you for a few seconds, and then draw 
or describe it from memory. 

Can you remember anything that you have never 
experienced or perceived ^ Can you remember and 

Problems. rcproducc with perfect accuracy ? Do 
you find anything in your reproduction that is not to 
be found in the original ^ If so, how do you account 
for its presence ? 

It will be well for us to consider briefly the develop- 
ment of some of the powers involved in memory, and 
some of the laws of its action. 

The first power to be developed in connection with 
memory we may call the power of assimilation. When 
Memory powers, a youug child sccs a man coming down 
the street, he immediately calls out, *'Papa!" Why.'' 



MEMORY. 123 

When riding through the country the child calls nearly 
all animals by one of two or three names, — horse, cow, 
dog. Can you tell why ? When a fresh Assimilation, 
sensation is presented to the mind, it seems to be 
referred by the mind (if I may so speak without being 
misunderstood) to that corner in which previous sensa- 
tions like it in character have already found lodgment. 
Here it becomes an integral part of the sum total 
of this particular department of our knowledge mate- 
rials. The points of likeness to past experiences are 
the attractive bonds of union. One day, as I was pass- 
ing a store, I noticed a basket of green squashes. A 
little girl, whose mother was looking at other vege- 
tables, happened to be standing by. I called her 
attention to the basket and asked her what those 
objects were. She looked at them critically for some 
time, and then answered, '* Pears." 

Explain what was passing in her mind before she 

answered. Problem. 

Closely allied to assimilation, and next in order of 
development, is the power of discrimination, or the 
power which selects materials by differ- Discrimination, 
ences. Early in life we learn to detect the difference 
between sensation of color, touch, and sound, and the 
differences once established we always discriminate 
with ease. 




124 ESSENTIALS OF PSYCHOLOGY. 

When the child referred to in a preceding paragraph 
says *'man" instead of ''papa" for every one except 

Problems. his father, what new power is he acquir- 
ing ? How far did the discriminating power enter 
into the case of the little girl who called squashes 
''pears" ? 

Association is the third power involved in memory. 
This is the power that binds together into one compact 

Association, wholc all the elements of an experience, 
so that the recall of any of the elements will tend to 
recall the experience. 

Fourth is reproduction, which is the power to bring 

again before the mind as an image that which was 

Reproduction, formerly before it in a presentative form. 

All these powers combined would not make a com- 
plete act of memory without the added power of recog- 

Recognition. nition. We must know that the image 
represents a former experience. 

Through all these powers, conditioning their action. 
Retention as ^^^^ ^^^ powcr of retention, of holding 
condition of all. ^^ keeping in the mind past experiences 

for future use. 

From the use of the word " image," it will be readily 
understood that the objects of memory are psychical 
objects, as distinguished from physical objects. If the 
image is just as clear and vivid as the original percept, 



MEMORY. 125 

the two differ only in the process of formation. In 
forming the percept, the sense organ was active ; in 
forming the image, the senses remained ^^^ j^^^^ ^^^ 
passive, the internal machinery of the *^^ percept, 
mind only being active. The nerve action in the brain 
itself was practically the same for the formation of the 
percept and the image. Very rarely, however, is the 
image an exact reproduction of the percept. It differs 
from the percept in distinctness of outline, in details, 
the minor points of the percept being modified or 
entirely obliterated in the image, and sometimes in 
even the most important qualities. 

Why is a story so greatly changed after several 

repetitions ? Problem. 

The difference between image and percept is well 
illustrated by the game called *' Scandal." All sit in 
a ring, and some one starts the game by illustration, 
whispering a sentence to his neighbor, who passes it 
on just as he remembers hearing it. When the sen- 
tence has passed round the circle, the resemblance to 
the original sentence .is apt to be very slight. 

We may be interested in the question, How are 
images formed in the mind .'* No matter how clear the 
process, and how well-defined the causes, ^ ^. , 

^ ' ' Formation of 

there will always be more or less of the ^^^^^s. 
mysterious about it all. You may demonstrate to 



126 ESSENTIALS OF PSYCHOLOGY. 

yourself the method by looking at an object for some 
time and then closing the eyes. You still continue to 
see the object, though it is really shut out from view. 
This after-percept will indicate the method of forming 
an image. The retentive and reproductive powers are 
at work, and the memory image is already in process 
of formation. 

Indeed, in all our perceptions of things the images 
of former perceptions are present to react upon and 
Images in per- modify the prcscut perccpts. This is the 
ception. reason why two people, both perfectly 

trustworthy, often give strangely different accounts 
of the same event. What they have perceived before 
is present in the mind as an image which combines 
with the present percept, modifying it according to 
their individual idiosyncrasies. 

The question now arises, What do we remember .-* 
We are very apt to think that memory is an erratic 
What do we powcr at bcst, subject to no law and 
remember? uudcr uo coutrol. As 3. matter of fact, 

however, every image formed in the mind depends 
upon some past experience. More than this even is 
true, for the character of the image present in my 
mind at this moment depends upon that which was 
present a moment ago. I was walking down the street 
in Chicago one stormy afternoon, when a young man 



MEMORY. 127 

passed who very closely resembled a friend of mine 
whom I had not seen for years. Instantly my mind 
turned to the place where I had last met that friend, 
and soon was occupied with people and circumstances 
far away. When I attempted to trace the route by 
which my mind had arrived at its ultimate destination, 
it was by no means an easy task. You have probably 
had many experiences of a similar character. 

All these instances of untraceable connections lead 
us to think that memories throng through the mind in 
a kind of haphazard panorama. And yet 

Connection be- 

it is certain that an object perceived calls tween succes- 

- . - - , . sive images. 

up the image of a former percept ; this 
image suggests still other images, all in regular order, 
and connected by bonds delicate and flexible but 
strong and enduring. The laws which govern this 
connection between successive images are called the 
Laws of Association. 

Very few isolated impressions are made upon the 
mind. I look out of the window and see a carriage 
passing in the street below. The impres- p^^ isolated 
sion received is not simply an impression ^"^pressions. 
of the carriage, but I am also more or less clearly con- 
scious of the street, the houses, and the general sur- 
roundings, though the passing carriage occupies the 
prominent place in the picture. If, now, at any future 



128 ESSENTIALS OF PSYCHOLOGY. 

time the image of this passing carriage should be 
recalled, the whole picture of the street and the sur- 
roundings would arise in the mind. 

This may serve to illustrate the first law of associa- 
Law of con- ^^ou, which is : Things contiguous in time 
tiguity. Qj. p|^(^g tend to recall one another. 

But this law has also a wider application than would 

appear from the above example. The contiguity in 

time or place need not exist except in the association 

formed by the mind. The mention of 

Application of 

law of con- Solou, the great lawgiver and statesman 

tiguity. 

of Athens, may bring to our minds the 
image of Moses, or of Germany's " Iron Chancellor," if 
we have been in the habit of thinking of one in con- 
nection with either of the others. 

Tell what you associate with the following, and 
explain the reason for it : Washington, Christmas, 
Boston, Fourth of July, Puritan. Can you explain 

Problems, why it is SO much easier to say the alpha- 
bet forwards than backwards ? Suppose you see a per- 
son in bad company ; what is the tendency of your 
mind ? Does this fact have any bearing on the pro- 
verbial expression, ''Avoid all appearance of evil".'* and 
if so, what .-* 

Another contiguous relation is that of cause and 
effect. When you see a man reeling down the street, 



MEMORY. 129 

what images are called up in your mind ? Give other 
illustrations of images called to mind ^^^^^ ^^^ 
through this relation. ^"^''*- 

Still another contiguous relation is that of similarity 
or contrast. In order that this relation may be opera- 
tive in recall, the two images, or the per- similarity and 
cept and the image to be compared, must c°"^''^^*- 
be before the mind at the same time. For example, 
you could not say that a wolf is not a dog unless you 
had the two images before you for comparison. 

It has been hinted already that habit has much to 
do with association. It cannot be insisted upon too 
strongly that habitual association of things or images 
makes it certain that when one thing or „ , •* ^ 

o Habit and asso- 

image is present the image of the thing ^^^^^°^- 
associated with it will soon appear. We shall see later 
of how great importance in the cultivation of memory 
is this fundamental law of association. If you wish to 
experiment with the working of this law, go out into 
the country on your bicycle. Do you find it easier or 
more difficult to ride in the beaten path than at the 
side of the road where no wheels have been before ? 
In the same way, ideas and images seem to wear paths 
in the brain when habitually associated, and it is easier 
for the mind to work as it has done before than to 
mark out new paths at each effort. 



130 ESSENTIALS OF PSYCHOLOGY. 

Besides the great law of contiguity there are several 
secondary and derivative laws that should be men- 
tioned. These secondary laws are so 

Secondary laws 

of association, Called bccausc they determine what par- 

their office. 

ticular image shall come to the mind, in 
distinction from the primary law which determines 
that a contiguous image will appear. 

The accompanying figure will illustrate the harmoni- 
ous working of the primary and secondary laws. The 




Fig. 23. 

central circle represents the idea present in the mind 
now. Associated with it in past experience are several 
Illustration, imagcs, represented by the smaller con- 
tiguous circles. All of these images may be thought 
of as striving to gain the central position. The pri- 
mary law of contiguity determines that one of these 



MEMORY. 131 

contiguous images will follow the present idea instead 
of some other image, g, which is not in contiguous rela- 
tions with the present idea. The question is, Which of 
these striving contiguous images will gain the ascend- 
ency and displace the present idea ^ This will be 
determined by the secondary laws. 

The first and most obvious of the secondary laws is 
the law of repetition. Things often repeated are more 
easily recalled, and will tend to come be- secondary laws: 
fore the mind more readily than things ^' ^^p^*i*i°"- 
that are thought of only occasionally. Thus, in the 
figure, if the 'idea represented by D has been repeated 
oftener than any of the other contiguous ideas, D will 
probably replace the present idea. The poems that 
we used to read over and over in our early school days 
are much more easily recalled by suggesting contiguous 
ideas than many more beautiful poems that we have 
read since. 

Again, I remember, when a child, standing in the door- 
way while a thunderstorm was in progress. In an open 
field across the road stood an old hickory „ ,,. . , . 

J 2. Vividness 01 

tree. Suddenly a bolt of lightning struck ^"^pression. 
the tree and ran down into the ground at its foot, leav- 
ing a seam in the bark on one side of the tree. During 
a severe thunderstorm that experience always comes to 
my mind. Vividness of impression assures ease of recall. 



132 ESSENTIALS OF PSYCHOLOGY. 

A third law takes account of the emotional condition 
at the time of suggestion. When a person is in 
3 Emotional ^ buoyaut, chccrful frame of mind, a 
condition. thought or pcrccpt will cause a far dif- 

ferent image to succeed from that which would be sug- 
gested during a severe attack of the "blues." 

The voltintary attention has much to do also with 
the train of thought suggested by any event. We find 

4. Voluntary oursclvcs able to control in large measure 
attention. ^^ dircctiou in which memory shall act. 

A fifth law is the law of recency^ but it is subject to 
so many exceptions that it should be stated only with 

5. Recency. the limiting clause, " other things being 
equal." With this provision, a recent experience is 
more apt to be recalled than one more remote. 

One other law of the greatest practical value is the 
law of tJwitght relation. Things which you have made 
6 Thou ht your own by tying them to other ideas by 

relation. mcaus of relation cords will tend to be 

easily recalled. 

Now give examples to illustrate each of these second- 
ary laws of association. 

It is not difficult to realize that thoughts and images 
follow one another in orderly succession under the 
operation of law during our waking hours. But there 
are several hours out of the twenty-four during which 



MEMORY. 133 

we are asleep, and, we ask, what becomes of the laws 
of association then ? Here, also, we shall find the 
laws operative, but the voluntary atten- operation of 
tion beins: in abeyance, and consciousness [^"^^f associa- 

<-• •' ' tion during 

being in a more or less passive state, ^^^^p- 
there seems to be no order or connection to the dreams 
that pass through our minds. For the phenomena of 
dreams I shall refer you to the larger text-books, only 
observing here that the mind is constantly active so 
long as we live, and that its actions are always subject 
to law. The fact that we cannot remember our dreams 
is no proof that we have had none. Who can sit down 
at night and recall every train of thought that has occu- 
pied his mind during the day ? 

The power of the association of ideas is far greater 
than we can believe without investigation. Find 
answers to the following questions, and give your 
reasons for them. A short time asfo ^ ., 

o Problems in 

large sleeves were fashionable among association, 
the ladies. What caused the change to the present 
fashion ? Suppose the present style had been first 
adopted by some one low down in the social scale, do 
you think it would have become prevalent ? In the 
theaters of to-day we find it becoming fashionable for 
women to remove their hats. How do you suppose it 
to have been brought about.? Why do careful business 



134 ESSENTIALS OF PSYCHOLOGY. 

men inquire into the habits and company of their 
prospective employees? Would you object to being 
called an anarchist or a socialist ? How is it possible 
that the publication in the newspapers of the details 
of horrible crimes increases the number of crimes of 
similar character ? 

Let us now ask what are the general conditions of 

retention and reproduction. Why does the mind retain 

and reproduce impressions made upon it ? 

General condi- 
tions of mem- The first answer that suggests itself is : 

ory. 

Because the impression is made so deep 
that it cannot be obliterated. The depth of the im- 
pression depends upon (a) the intensity of the sensa- 
Depth of im- ^^*^^ ^^^^ produccd it, {b) the focusing of 
pression. ^j^^ attention upon that particular sensa- 

tion, and (c) the repetition of the sensation in the form 
of an image. 

For example, a far deeper impression is produced 
upon the mind by the sensation resulting from a sud- 
den blow than by that resulting from a gradual pres- 
iiiustrationsand ^urc, and will Consequently be much 
problems. longer retained. Show how [a), {b), and 

{c) are illustrated by this example. As I was walking 
down town the other day I saw a steeple climber 
ascending a lofty church spire to gild the cross at the 
summit. So absorbed did I become in looking at him 



MEMORY. 135 

as he hung suspended in mid-air that I found myself, 
in common with many others, standing in the middle 
of the walk gazing up at the man, who seemed but a 
pigmy. It will be long before I forget about it. Why ? 
If you wish to learn a lesson so that you will not forget 
it, which do you think the better plan, to read it over 
several times, or to read it over once and then repeat 
the substance of it to yourself several times ? 

It will be evident that retention is conditioned by 
sense impressions, because they are the raw material 
from which all mental phenomena are constructed. 
We may say, then, that we have as many j^j^^^^ ^^ ^^^_ 
kinds of memory as we have kinds of sen- °^^' 
sations. The power of retention seems to be a fixed 
quantity in the case of each individual, education mak- 
ing but little difference with it. All men are certainly 
not born equal in this respect, nor can they be educated 
into equality. More than this, the retentive power 
varies in the same person with the kind of sense 
impression. Some remember best what they hear, 
others what they see, etc. 

How is this in your own case ? Which kind of 
memory is most strongly developed in problems and 
you .'' Experiments may be tried to test experiments, 

•' ^ •' muscular mem- 

the various sense memories. To test the °^y- 
muscular sense lift some weight, and after the lapse of 



136 ESSENTIALS OF PSYCHOLOGY. 

five or ten seconds select from a number of weights 
one of exactly the same weight as the first. Note the 
difference between the two by actual weight. What 
per cent have you forgotten in ten seconds ? 

To test the hearing memory, use some stringed 
instrument with which you are not familiar, in the 
Hearing mem- ^amc way as the weights, sounding a note, 
°^^- and after five or ten seconds attempting 

to sound the same note ; or sound a note with the 
voice in unison with a note on the piano. After five 
or ten seconds give the same note without the piano, 
if you can. 

Sight may be tested by lights of different intensity ; 
and so on, for the other senses. 

All these tests will be somewhat inaccurate without 
measuring apparatus, of course, but will tend to estab- 

Inaccurac of ^^^^ ^^^ ^^^^ ^^^^ ^^ VCry fcW CaSCS do WC 

memory. remember accurately for even five seconds. 

To carry out the tests with accuracy would be to 
establish a law for the progress of weakening of sense 
impressions. 

An experiment often tried in my classes to establish 
the relative power of sight and hearing memory in a 
rough way is as follows : Make two lists of letters, 
eight or ten in number. Read one list aloud, allowing 
an interval of about a second between the reading of 



MEMORY. 137 

two successive letters. When the list has been com- 
pleted, let the class write down as many as they can 
remember. The second list should be Relative power 
presented to the eye at the same rate °^ ^\^^* ^"^ 

^ •' hearing mem- 

as the first. The number of each list """y- 
remembered will furnish a measure of the memory 
power involved. Needless to say, the order should 
not be taken into account, as order in- Experiment, 
volves association, while we are considering only 
retention and reproduction. 

Different varieties of memory may be classified 
under two general heads, — spontaneous and inten- 
tional. The spontaneous memory is strongest in 
directions corresponding to the peculiar 

Spontaneous 

mental habits of the individual. Some and intentional 

memory. 

people recall dates without effort. Others 
can learn a page of poetry or prose by reading or hear- 
ing it once. People have been known who were able 
to repeat an address to which they had listened. 
Such phenomenal spontaneous memories are due to 
an abnormal condition of some portion of the intel- 
lectual system. If we do not possess a large share of 
this spontaneous memory power, we may as well be 
content with what we have, for by no known means 
is it capable of cultivation. 

The essential difference between the spontaneous 



138 ESSENTIALS OF PSYCHOLOGY. 

and intentional varieties of memory lies in the fact that 
in the former images arise without mental effort, while 
Difference be- ^^^ ^^^^ latter there is a distinct effort of 
tween sponta- ^^^ mind reachins" out after the ima2:e 

neous and inten- *-* ^ 

tionai memory, wanted, as any one knows who has 

scratched his head in a vain search for the image, 

that, like the will-o'-the-wisp, eludes him still. 

Ready memory. If the mind succcssfully complctcs the 

search in a short time, we say the person has a ready 

memory. 

If a person is thorough in his methods of acqui- 
Tenaciousmem- ^ition, hc is apt to havc 3. tcnacious 
°''^' memory. 

In addition to these two kinds of intentional mem- 
ory, the circumstantial and philosophic are most impor- 
circumstantiai ^^^^- ^^ ^^6 formcr cvcry detail comes 

memory. ^^^y. ^^ ^^^ ^^^^ q^^ ^f ^^^ ^^^^ 

famous examples in literature is found in Shakspere's 
Henry IV, Part II, Act II, Scene I, where Dame 
Quickly tells Jack Falstaff the circumstances under 
which he promised to marry her. Often, in our 
courts, witnesses are called upon to testify who can- 
not tell their story at all unless allowed to tell it in 
their own way, with all the irrelevant circumstances. 

The philosophic memory does not cumber itself 
with all the details, because there is no need of it. 



MEMORY. 139 

A person who possesses this kind of memory will 
attempt to grasp only the great principles of a sub- 
ject, as the minute details can then be phnoso hie 
evolved as effects from a cause, or by "^^™°^y- 
means of some of the other laws of association. 

Which of these two kinds of intentional memory 
would you prefer to possess ? The difference in their 
real value may be tested by giving the same lesson to 
two persons, one of whom has received Problems, 
the proper training, the other uneducated. The latter 
will probably attempt to remember all the details in 
the order in which they are presented. The result 
v/ill be that no particular thing will stand out promi- 
nently in his mind. All will be on a dead level, as it 
were, and one thing will be as easily recalled as 
another. The former will at once select the most 
important points and group the minor ones about 
them. He will burden his memory with the impor- 
tant things only, and they will stand out clear and 
distinct. When the examination is given, what may 
be expected of the two ? 

Before we leave this subject we want to know what 
are the conditions of a good memory, and how we may 
be able to bring about those conditions, and so improve 
our memory power. 

A good intentional memory depends largely upon 



140 ESSENTIALS OF PSYCHOLOGY. 

the number and ineradicability of the paths in the 
brain. That is to say, our habits in learning things 
Conditions of determine the power of our memories, 
good memory. Associated with this condition are the 
readiness and distinctness with which images are 
recalled, and the length of time during which the 
impressions are retained. 

We hear remarkable instances of memory images 

called up from the earliest childhood. Some people 

claim to have recollections of events that 

Memory of 

childhood expe- occurrcd in their experience when less 

riences. 

than three years of age. It is highly 
probable, to say the least, that in such instances the 
memory has received suggestions from parents and 
friends in early life, and the imagination has seized 
upon the pictures presented and made them its own. 
My own earliest recollection goes back to the time 
when, a child of four, I ran away to school. I remem- 
ber a part of the walk, but that is all. 

The memory of the ancients seems to have been 
much stronger than that of the moderns. The poems 

of Homer and other literary masterpieces 

Memory in an- 
cients and mod- wcrc haudcd down from one generation to 

erns. 

another by word of mouth. We depend 
upon books to keep the masterpieces for us, trying 
to remember only where we may find them, though 



MEMORY. 141 

Macaulay is said to have been able to repeat the 
greater portion of the Bible from memory. 

This would seem to indicate what as a rule for 
strengthening the memory ? What is the value of 
books ? Why is it necessary for us to Problems, 
depend more upon books than did the ancients ? What 
tendency should we guard against ? 

Again, we find cases where the memory power seems 
to be in a peculiarly exalted condition, where minute 
circumstances, long since forgotten, come Exalted mem- 
suddenly before the mind. Persons who °^^' 
have been on the point of drowning tell us that in 
an instant the whole life, to the smallest, most trivial 
circumstance, is flashed before the mind. 

What bearing does this fact have upon the subject 
of forgetting ? Would it be well for us if we could 
recall every detail in our whole life at Problems, 
will ? Why ? Is a judicious power of forgetting an 
essential condition of a good memory ? 

We have spent a good deal of time and space in 
a study of the laws and conditions under which the 
reproductive power acts, because a good memory is 
desired by every one, and in order to cultivate it we 
need to know first of all its nature and modes of action. 

To improve the memory various systems have been 
devised, most of which may be- dismissed very briefly. 



142 ESSENTIALS OF PSYCHOLOGY. 

First come the devices which are classed under the 
one name, mnemonics, the principle underlying all of 
Methods of which systcms is, that memory consists in 

improving mem- 
ory, the reproduction of words instead of things. 

From the earliest type, which taught the student to 
connect the facts to be remembered with different por- 
Mnemonics ^^^^^ ^^ ^ familiar building, down to the 
valueless. most modcm methods of rhythmical sound 

or artificial association, these systems are of but little 
practical value. It is often, as any one may learn by 
experiment, more difficult to recall the intricacies of 
the system than to recall the facts that one wishes to 
remember. The only element of value contained in 
any of them is to be found in the training of the asso- 
ciative power. 

Then there are the mechanical methods, such as the 
older people now living will remember to have been 
Mechanical ^^ ^oguc in their early days. Learning 

methods. things by rote as an exercise in memory 

culture is practically useless. Indeed, all mechanical 
and mnemonic processes may be discarded as valueless 
if we wish to develop a good memory. 

It is only by the observance of natural laws that we 
can attain our object. And yet it must be understood 
Natural method, at the outsct that there is a point beyond 
which each individual will find it impossible to advance. 



MEMORY. 143 

The memory power develops up to a certain age, and 
remains stationary for a time, after which it gradually 
decays. The power of acquisition may continue to 
develop after the memory power has reached its high- 
est state. A person of thirty years who has already 
mastered several languages can master another in less 
time and with less effort than a person of fifteen 
who is just beginning with his first foreign language, 
because he is assimilating the new to the old. 

If we wish to put into operation the natural method 
of developing and cultivating the memory, we shall 
need, first of all, to take good care that ^^^^ j^^^^^j^ ^^ 
the physical system be kept in sound a first condition, 
condition. Good health is the best foundation upon 
which to rear an enduring memory superstructure. 

Then we need clear percepts, and a ciear percepts 
habit of forming clear-cut images from ^"'^ images, 
these percepts. 

Third, we should learn a thing thoroughly if we 
wish to remember it. Then we may assist the mem- 
ory by various physical helps, such as 

. . Thoroughness in 

recitmg aloud, the sound of the voice learning and 

- . 11. other helps. 

forming a new memory path ; drawing 
an illustration of what we wish to recall ; frequent 
repetition to make sure that the path is not obliter- 
ated by other material ; making abstracts of books or 



144 ESSENTIALS OF PSYCHOLOGY. 

chapters read ; conversation with others upon the 

subject. 

Can you tell from your own experience whether any 
Problems. of thcsc physical helps are of practical 

value ? Can you suggest any other physical helps ? 

The fifth rule is : Habitually associate or 

Association 

with previous conncct a new thought with that which 

knowledge. i r <-t^i • • 

you knew before. This is one of the most 
powerful helps to the memory. 

Suppose, for example, that you are studying history, 
literature, science, Latin, Greek, French, and German, 
cobrdination of ^ou are Constantly coming across new 
*^^^^' facts in each of these departments. As 

isolated facts, they are bound to escape you. If, how- 
ever, you can take one central thought and connect 
the others with that, you will have little difficulty in 
holding at your command a large field of knowledge. 
Nearly everything that we can expect to remember 
from the time of Christ down to the present may be 
hinged upon a very few dates and events. 

Just see how much in the above-mentioned subjects, 
and in art, philosophy, and religion, you can cause to 
cluster around the following : 476 a.d., the fall of 

Illustration, the Roman Empire ; 800, the empire of 
Charlemagne ; 1066, the Norman conquest of England ; 
1453, the capture of Constantinople by the Turks; 



MEMORY. 145 

1600, the Elizabethan age; 1700, the age of Queen 
Anne; 1789, the French Revolution; 1861, the great 
Rebellion. 

The sixth rule is : Give your undivided attention to 
the acquisition of the matter in hand. Think about it, 
and, above all, and last of all, keep constantly at work. 
These rules might easily be deduced from 

Undivided at- 

what has been said in the preceding pages, tention and con- 
You may be able to find still others, but 
of one thing be sure : you will never have a good 
memory, or anything else worth possessing, unless 
you are willing to spend some time and energy in 
acquiring it. 

What bearing do these observations have upon the 
method, too common in many of our schools and col- 
leges, of "cramming" for examinations.-^ Problems. 
How much would a school or college course be worth 
if the student did all his work for the term or the 
month during the two or three days immediately pre- 
ceding the examination ? What advice would you give 
to your fellow-students concerning methods of study .'* 
Do you follow your own advice ? 



CHAPTER IX. 

IMAGINATION. 

Memory we found to be the power of reproducing 
more or less exactly the experiences and percepts of 

Imagination, the past in the form of images. Advanc- 
ing one step, we find ourselves in the realms of the im- 
agination, which, though differing from memory, is yet 
separated from it by no sharp line of demarcation. As in 
the case of memory, imagination and thought must have 
materials to work upon, and we have shown the only 
materials at the disposal of the mind to be sensations. 

Imagination is the power which represents the ele- 
ments of knowledge in modified forms and in new 
combinations. It seizes upon the percept 

Definition and 

nature of its of 3. man, and, combining with it some 

action. 

qualities which he may possess, constructs 
a "Lilliputian" or an inhabitant of '' Brobdingnag," 
while the figure of a horse and the human faculties 
when combined give us the " Houyhnhnms " of Gzi/- 
livers Travels. It is a wonderful power, broader than 
simple memory, and only less wonderful than the logi- 
cal faculty. 

Even in our percepts we find imagination occupying 



IMAGINATION. 147 

no small place. I see before me on the desk an ink- 
stand. The sensation produced by the i^^gj^^^ion m 
inkstand comes from only one side of it, perception, 
but the imagination supplies instantly a picture of the 
other side in order that the percept may be complete. 

When we hear the ringing of a bell, what part 
does the imagination play in forming the Problems, 
percept ? How is your percept of a house modified 
by imagination ? 

Imagination is also involved in memory. About ten 
years ago it was my privilege to visit Niagara. The 
things that I saw made such an impres- j^^gi^^tion in 
sion upon me that I thought there would "^e™°^y- 
never be any difficulty in remembering them exactly as 
they are. And yet, when I returned for another visit 
a short time ago, I found that my imagination had been 
at work upon the images. Strangely enough, my last 
visit was far more satisfactory than the first, and the 
Falls seemed far grander and more awful than before. 

Can you give similar instances of image changes 
from your own experience ? Problem. 

Let us begin our study of imaginative phenomena by 
an investigation of the processes by which the imagina- 
tion works. The memory works under the laws of asso- 
ciation, but imagination begins by dissociation. As a 
preliminary but essential step toward the weaving of its 



148 ESSENTIALS OF PSYCHOLOGY. 

marvelous fabrics, it pulls the images to pieces, ana- 
Processes of tyzcs them. Separates them into their con- 
dTs^oc'iation' stitueiit elements. When this has been 
recombination, j^^^^^ ^^iQ Separate elements are available 
for use as threads in the new product, and may be reas- 
sociated, by which process variations from the original 
are made. 

Can you cite instances from the mythology of Greece 
and Rome in which images have been dissociated, and 

Problems. the elements of more than one reasso- 
ciated, by the imagination ? How would the picture 
of a man with the head below the shoulders illustrate 
these processes ? 

There are three varieties of imagination which I 

Varieties. shall designate as constructive, creative, 
and aesthetic. 

The constructive variety, which is also sometimes 
called the intellectual imagination, is active during the 
Constructive acquisitiou of new knowledge. We really 
imagination. leam nothing, whether with or without the 
aid of books, without using the constructive imagina- 
tion. A pupil who is studying geography, for example, 
will know the subject only as a series of names located 
on maps, and of facts to be stowed away in the mind 
long enough to enable him to pass an examination, but 
of no practical use to anybody, unless the teacher can 



IMAGINATION. 149 

help him to construct, out of the elements already in his 
possession, an image of the thing to be remembered. 

Criticise the method of the geographers who begin 
their works with a description of the general features 
of the earth's surface, and tell where the Problem, 
study of the subject should begin. If you wished to 
describe to a child the battle of Quebec so that he 
would remember it understandingly, how would you go 
about it ? 

In scientific researches the constructive imagination 
is of the greatest assistance. The scientist observes 
facts. From these facts he must construct 

Constructive 

his hypothesis concerning results. But imagination in 

science. 

these results are not as yet matter for 
observation. It is only by the help of the imagination 
that such results can be predicted. When Franklin 
observed the actions of lightning and of the electric 
spark and concluded that they were the same, his 
imagination saw them producing the same results, and 
found the means to prove his hypothesis correct. 

Give examples from the different sciences, e.g-., 
astronomy, chemistry, physics, physiology, showing 
how the imagination has been of service Problem, 
in making the great discoveries in those sciences. 

More powerful still, because coming before our 
everyday observation and experience, are the accom- 



ISO ESSENTIALS OF PSYCHOLOGY. 

plishments of the creative, or practical imagination as 
it is sometimes called. From the bicycle to the steam 
Creative imag- engine or the electric motor, from the old 
whlHt accom- ^^^^ spindlc to the great cloth manufac- 
phshes. tories, from the wooden plow to the four- 

share steam or electric plow, from the sickle and flail 
to the harvester-and-binder, and from Franklin's kite 
and key to the horseless electric wagon — all the steps 
in the processes of practical development, whether in 
labor-saving devices or in the other devices that con- 
duce to the comfort and luxury of modern life, have 
been made possible by the imagination, which pictured 
to itself an easier way of doing something, or a method 
of accomplishing greater results by the expenditure of 
the same amount of energy. Further, too, we might go. 
Modern education and educational methods, our schools, 
colleges, and great universities have been founded and 
maintained because of the fertility of imaginations which 
worked themselves out into results. 

This variety of the imagination is very active in 

children. The boy who gallops up and down the 

street astride of a stick is just as happy 

Creative im- 
agination in as, far happier perhaps than, he would be 

children. 

if seated on a real horse. His imagina- 
tion has clothed the stick with flesh. It is a real horse 
to him. The little girl who is so fond of her old rag. 



IMAGINATION. 151 

doll will care nothing for it when her imagination has 
ceased to make the doll a real being. You can, no 
doubt, give instances from your own early childhood 
of the intense reality of the images that you created. 
A large part of the life of the child is lived within the 
realms of the imagination. He sees everything through 
colored glasses, and takes great delight in the marvel- 
ous results produced. He is greatly pleased by stories 
of the remarkable, which stimulate his fancy to new 
flights, and he soon produces a story surpassing any 
that he may have heard. It is amusing to hear two 
children, each trying to outdo the other in singing the 
praises of his own favorite possession. Numberless 
illustrations of this phase of the subject might be 
given. 

It is during childhood, too, that the imagination shows 
itself in the adaptation of means to ends. Show what 
part the imagination plays in the following incident. 
A child saw the sugar bowl standing in Problem, 
the center of the table. He was unable to reach it 
from the floor. Presently he pushed a chair to the 
side of the table, climbed up into it, and so reached 
the bowl and the sweets within. 

While the creative imagination should be cultivated 
and stimulated to exercise in early childhood, it should 
be borne in mind that there is a grave danger connected 



152 ESSENTIALS OF PSYCHOLOGY. 

with it if uncontrolled, or allowed to develop into an 

exaggerated form during the later years of childhood. 

The youth who lives too much in romance 

Should be con- 
trolled and edu- is apt to bc wcakcncd intellectually and 

cated. 

to be lacking in moral responsibility. In 
order to prevent such results, the imagination should 
be led, without diminishing its vigor or quenching its 
ardor, from the extravagant and improbable into chan- 
nels which deal with the probable and the real. We 
need to cultivate the imagination to-day more than ever 
before, but in doing so we should avoid the extrava- 
gant and absurd. So much has been accomplished in 
the past that the tax upon the imagination is constantly 
becoming more severe, if we expect to advance beyond 
the mark that has been set. 

We have yet to consider the variety of the imagi- 
nation that is affected by the feelings — the aesthetic 
imagination. It may be said that feeling enters into 
. ^, ^. . all acts of the imasrination, and it is true. 

Aesthetic im- & ' 

agination and -g^|- ^^ ^ Separate idcalism from all 

the lormation -^ ■■• 

of ideals. other departments of knowledge, for the 

sake of convenience, and it is with the formation of 
ideals that the aesthetic imagination concerns itself. 
If we study the progress of historic ornamentation 
from its beginnings in the savage tribes down through 
the eastern nations, Egypt, Greece, Rome, and so on 



IMAGINATION. 153 

to modern times, we may learn much of the character 
of the different peoples by means of their ideals as 
expressed in the principles of their ornamentation. 

It is everlastingly true that '' as a man thinketh in 
his heart, so is he " ; for the ideals formed by the action 
of the aesthetic imagination are ever striv- j^eais ^f chii- 
ing to work themselves out in action, and '^^^"' 
in this way character is shaped. The boy or girl who 
*' wants to be just like papa or mamma " tries to become 
just like papa or mamma. The desire was the result 
of the formation of an ideal in the childish mind of 
all that is great and good as embodied in the character 
of the parent. Woe to the parent who does not furnish 
a good ideal! 

Not only does feeling enter into imagination, but 
the products of the aesthetic imagination also act upon 
and stimulate the feelings. The poet, the 

Reaction of 

artist, the musician, the novelist, all appeal imagination 

r f • 1 • • • upon feelings. 

to our feelmgs by stimulatmg our imagma- 
tions. As we imagine ourselves in the artist's place, 
we pass through, more or less accurately, the emotions 
that stirred him when producing his work. Or we 
may throw ourselves into the work itself and become 
one of the actors in the shifting scene, the sympathetic 
reader, one of the puppets of the show, or all of them 
in turn. 



154 ESSENTIALS OF PSYCHOLOGY. 

Here opens the proper field of the critic. Only as 
we enter into fellowship with the artist, take his place 
in production, as it were, are we at all fitted to explain to 
True criticism. othcrs the bcautics in his work; and only 
as we become for the time an integral part of the work 
produced can we point out the failures of the artist, if 
there be any, to reach the standard of good taste. 

Somewhere within every human being there is a 
capacity for appreciating the good, the true, and the 
Power to form bcautiful, a powcr of forming ideals, 
ideals universal. ^^^^ children of tcu ycars have already 
formed ideals for themselves. The kindergarten is a 
powerful aid in this direction. 

We need to keep constantly in mind that, in all the 
range of imaginative products, there is nothing that is 
beyond the limits imposed by intellectual laws, nothing 
^ , ^ , . that is formed without materials. The 

Products of im- 

agination come ^^^ materials at the disposal of the wild- 

from sense im- •' ^ 

pressions. gg^- imagination are those same sense 

impressions that have haunted us from the very begin- 
ning of our study of this subject. Every imagination 
is limited in its scope by the abundance of the mate- 
rials at hand, and the direction of the imagination is 
strictly determined by the range of the percepts that 
have been formed. 

While in the processes of the imagination there is a 



IMAGINATION. 155 

tendency to stray from the strict paths of literal truth, 
there is yet no reason for the old notion that the special 
business of teachers should be to repress Mistake often 
all imaginative tendencies. We are apt to '"^^^" 
consider only the vagaries of this faculty, and then 
to condemn the faculty as useless, whereas it may be 
made to minister to the highest that is in us. It 
tends to foster the belief that its own products are 
either true or capable of being realized as true, and so 
it becomes the practical power which is at the basis of 
all progress. 

We have thus far omitted one subject which may 
well be touched upon briefly, — the effects of the imagi- 
nation upon the physical system. It is 

Imagination and 

a well-established fact that the health the physical 
may be materially affected by imagining 
one's self to be either well or ill. Well-authenticated 
instances are recorded where people have been made 
ill by being told how ill they looked ; and, on the other 
hand, people have regained health and spirits through 
the medium of an imagination worked upon by the sug- 
gestions of others. Many instances of so-called ''faith 
cures" are effected by the power of imagination. 

Everybody knows that warts may be cured by tying 
three knots in a string and throwing it Example, 
away, or by drawing a pencil mark about them. 



156 ESSENTIALS OF PSYCHOLOGY. 

Should these remedies fail, you doubtless know of one 
that is infallible. 

Problem. In what does the chief value of many 
patent medicines consist ? 

The imagination may even cause death, as in the 
case of a French criminal. The man had been con- 

iiiustration. demncd to death by the courts. Before 
the time for the execution, the doctors were given 
permission to try an experiment upon him. They 
informed the man that he was to be executed by hav- 
ing his veins opened, and that they were ready to 
perform the operation. The prisoner was blindfolded, 
stretched on a table, and, a harm.less incision having 
been made in his arm, warm water was allowed to 
trickle down the arm and fall into a vessel. The 
attendants remarked freely upon the flow of blood and 
the condition of the pulse. The prisoner's condition 
was observed to follow closely the tenor of their 
conversation, and the man actually died because he 
imagined that he was dying. 

Without multiplying instances, we find that in the 
imagination we have a mighty power, one that should 
Imagination a ^c handled carcfully, developed in the 
mighty power, ^ight dircctions, and made to do us great 
and valuable services. 

How are we to cultivate the imagination in the right 



IMAGINATION. 157 

way ? As already hinted, the first thing to do is to 
collect an abundance of perception material. The per- 
son who shuts himself up in a room away How to cuiti- 
from the world and his fellows can never ^on-/^tfect^' 
have a healthy imagination. If Bryant "^^tedais. 
and Longfellow and Wordsworth, and all the other 
poets who have written such beautiful things about 
nature, had never seen the world around them, never 
formed clear percepts of what they saw and heard, they 
could never have written their poems, and the world 
would have been so much the poorer. He who would 
write of human life must study that life at first hand 
and through as many types as possible. 

Even if your imagination does not lead you into the 
paths of literature, you will still need a large number 
of percepts ; no matter what your occupa- 

Universal need 

tion in life may be, the larger the num- of cultivating 

imagination. 

ber the better for you. And there is an 
abundance of percept material at hand. Any one of us 
needs only to open the eyes to find them resting upon 
materials for imagination work : the grass, the flowers, 
the trees, the birds, the stars, — all things may be used 
if we will only use them. 

Of what use is a cultivated imagination to a farmer .'' 
to a grocer .? to a hod-carrier ? Problems. 

After the collection of materials in importance comes 



158 ESSENTIALS OF PSYCHOLOGY. 

the habit of forming clear images. Giving an oral or 
Image clearly. Written description of the things that you 
perceive will assist greatly in making the images sharp 
and clear. 

When the images are clearly defined, begin to 
Dissociate care- dissociatc them, rcmoving one salient fea- 
^""^' ture at a time, and considering the part 

removed and that which remains each by itself. 

Then try putting the parts of two images together, 
so combining them as to form something new. The 
Practice practicc of thcsc proccsscs of analysis and 

reassociation 

assiduously. synthcsis will give you control over your 
imagination, and increase the variety of the imaginative 
products at the same time. 

It may seem to the casual observer that these rec- 
ommendations will serve only as a kind of superficial 

Objections, imaginative gymnastics to develop a purely 
mechanical imaginative product. Many people object 
to the deliberate, conscious practice of imaginative 
exercises, but it may well be questioned whether, when 
the principle involved is acknowledged to be correct, it 
is not advisable to train the imagination deliberately and 
in accordance with the laws of its development, instead 
of trusting to chance. It is clear that the latter way is 
the more agreeable, and it is acknowledged that it has 
proved successful in many well-known instances. 



IMAGINATION. IS9 

The reproduction in your own mind of an image 
formed by some one else has but little value in 
strengthening the imagination. Why ? Problems. 
Which do you think better for the imagination of 
theater-goers, to have all the artistic scenic effects 
that we find on the stage to-day, or to have no scenery 
at all, as in Shakspere's time, when placards were 
hung out to announce changes of scene ? 

The reading of poetry and other imaginative litera- 
ture may serve as a stimulus to imaginative activity 
if properly used, but it should never be ^^^^ ^^ ^^.^.^^^ 
allowed to supersede original work. Pro- '^°^^' 
duce something of your own each day, and you will 
find it far more helpful than reading. A good way to 
make reading helpful is to stop reading in the middle 
of a story and finish it for yourself. The chief charm 
of Stockton's Lady or the Tiger lies in the powerful 
stimulus to the imagination, which will insist upon 
finishing the story now in one way, now in another. 
When you come across a figure of speech, select a 
figure of your own to take the place of the one given 
by the author. For example, what other form of 
expressing the thought contained in the following lines 
from Longfellow's Evangeline can you suggest ? 

Silently, one by one, in the infinite meadows of heaven. 
Blossomed the lovely stars, the forget-me-nots of the angels. 



l6o ESSENTIALS OF PSYCHOLOGY. 

Finally, each should place before himself an ideal, 
with the determination to reach it. We fashion our 
Need to form idcals out of the qualitics and character- 
ideais and to istics that wc find exemplified in the lives 

strive to attain ^ 

*^^"^- of others, and then we are in turn molded 

by our ideals. No one can be anything worth the 
while without first forming an ideal of that which he 
would become. Emerson says, '' Hitch your wagon to 
a star." This is sound advice, especially if we couple 
with it the Massachusetts farmer's version of the words 
as he remembered them, — " Grease your wagon before 
you start " ; in other words, collect the provisions for 
the journey, and keep a sharp eye upon the scenery 
along the way. 



CHAPTER X. 

THOUGHT. 

The third of the representative powers is thought. 
Perception, memory, and imagination are conditioned 
by, and concern themselves with, concrete summary, 
materials. When we perceive, it is an object we per- 
ceive — a tree, a horse, i.e.,, some particular tree, some 
particular horse.. Memory and imagination conjure up 
before us an image, but still the identity between this 
psychical object, or image, and the physical object 
may be established. 

Thought, though a representative power, differs 
from the others in that it deals with the Thought, 
abstract, or the relations between objects and ideas. 

We may define thought as the power which com- 
pares things and detects resemblances and differences. 
The person who saw fire for the first time Thought de- 
might get burned. Memory would tell ^"^'^' 
him to let fire alone thereafter, but it would be only 
by exerting the power of thought that he could make 
this source of pain and danger useful'. 



l62 ESSENTIALS OF PSYCHOLOGY. 

It is still maintained, by some students who ought to 
know better, that children do not think. Indeed, some 
say that the thought power begins to develop only 
Thought begins ^^hen the child reaches an age varying 
to develop from ^^^^ ^^^ ^^ fourtccu ycars. As a matter 

the earliest •' 

childhood. Q-f f^^^^ ^Y\Q power of thought is exercised 

from the early years of childhood, though it comes to 
full maturity last of all the intellectual powers. Hold 
a piece of sugar before the child. He says '' goo ' ! 
goo' !" The child is thinking, and is expressing his 
thought. Elaborated into language, the train of 
thought would be somewhat as follows : Whatever 
produces a pleasurable taste sensation is good. Sugar 
always produces a pleasurable taste sensation. There- 
fore sugar is good. Now, this substance before me is 
sugar. Therefore, this substance before me is good. 
Quite a complicated thought process ! The first *Hvhy" 
of the child indicates that the thought power is active. 
Indeed, it is impossible to perceive without thinking. 
When I perceive the ink-well on my desk, I separate it 
from the desk and think of it in the 

Thought in- 
volved in per- relation that it bears to the desk. Other- 

ception. 

wise I could not perceive it as an ink-well. 
The child does the same. 

In memory, too, the thought power is present as an 
active agent. If I attempt to call up an image of the 



THOUGHT. 163 

house where my friend lives, I can do so only by sepa- 
rating that house from those immediately surround- 
ing it by some characteristics which the Thought and 
others do not possess. This is thinking, ^^^°^y- 
and a kind of thinking that is carried on quite early in 
life. 

In imagination the thought power is also present. 
The man whose imagination is at work upon some 
machine that he hopes will be helpful to ^^^^^ ^^ ^^^ 
his fellow-men must spend much time in invagination, 
vigorous thought upon the relations of one part of his 
machine to another, and upon the relation of the whole 
to the work that he wishes it to do. 

The processes of thous^ht are three in Processes of 

^ ° thought. 

number — conception, judgment, reasoning. 

What kind of an image does each of the following 
words call up in your mind : horse, dog. Problem, 
church, tree, boat ? 

Whatever the particular image called up by the word 
"boat," for example, whether it be a rowboat, a full- 
rigged ship, or an ocean liner, or whether it be no boat 
in particular, the word ''boat" should i. conception, 
mean to us an object possessing a certain few quali- 
ties which separate it from all other classes of objects. 
This forming of a general idea is called conception, or 
thought in the form of analysis. 



l64 ESSENTIALS OF PSYCHOLOGY. 

Let us examine a little more carefully the method 

by which we arrive at the concept ''boat." The first 

step in the process is observation. We 

Method of form- 
ing a concept: examine carefully all the specimens that 

(a) Observation. 

are accessible, flat-bottomed and round- 
bottomed, skiffs and whaleboats, yachts and barges, 
sloops, schooners, brigs and ships, sailing boats and 
those propelled by steam and electricity. The more 
varieties that we can observe, the nearer perfect will 
be the concept that we shall form. 

In the second place, we compare all these specimens 
in order to find out all the points of likeness and differ- 

(b) Comparison, cucc in sizc, shapc, rig, materials, etc. 
The third step will be abstraction ; that is, we draw 

off {ab = from and traho = draw) the characteristics 

(c) Abstraction, that wc find to bc common to all the 
specimens that we have observed and compared. 

Problem. What qualitics would you abstract in 
this case ? 

Fourth, we proceed to a generalization, by which we 
mean the grouping of the common characteristics in a 

(d) Generaiiza- class by thcmsclves, Separated from all 
**°"' other classes by their applicability to all 
the specimens. 

Lastly, we proceed to name the class. This nam- 
ing is a matter of convenience. By means of names 



THOUGHT. 165 

we can pass concepts more rapidly in review than 
would be possible if we were obliged to ^^^ Denomina- 
call up all the common qualities every time. *^°"" 

Owing to the fact that it is generally well-nigh 
impossible to observe every specimen belonging to a 
class of objects, our concepts are not often perfect. 
For many years the concept ''swan" included the 
quality "whiteness." When the black swan of Aus- 
tralia was found, the concept had to be Modification of 
modified. As our observation increases, """p*^ ^"^^ *° 

larger expe- 

the concepts that we have formed must "^nce. 
be modified to meet the changed condition of affairs. 
The concept of the word "man " which the child forms 
at first is apt to include the quality "whiteness" and a 
certain definite idea of size. As the child observes 
men of different races, such as the Chinese, the Indian, 
the Negro, his early concepts undergo a change, and 
with each change he draws nearer the true concept. 

How does the concept of the child differ from that 
of the grown person ? How would the concept 
"boat," formed by the Indian of 1400, differ from that 
formed by the American of to-day ? Give Problems, 
instances in which your own concepts have changed 
during the past year. 

It is of great importance that we form accurate con- 
cepts, for all the higher forms of knowledge depend 



l66 ESSENTIALS OF PSYCHOLOGY. 

upon the degree of perfection reached here. One 

writer says : '' There is nothing in which men fail 

more than in forming distinct and accu- 

Need of forming 

accurate con- rate conccptions, and no more defective 

cepts. 

education than that which encourages 
mere knowledge of words, rules, and formulae, to the 
neglect of ideas." 

Some one may think that there is but little differ- 
ence, if any, between a concept and an image, and 

that, if care be taken to form clear images. 

Difference be- 
tween concepts the conccpts will take care of themselves. 

and images. 

Note, however, the distinction. An image 
is always the reproduction of some concrete thing in 
more or less accuracy of detail. You cannot form an 
image of greenness, but only of a green object. Green- 
ness is an abstraction, and all concepts are abstract 
notions, as distinct from the concrete notions embodied 
by memory and imagination. In the course of its 
development the abstraction at first attaches itself to 
an individual object, then to a class of objects, and 
finally to a combination of classes. 

An abstract notion or idea is acquired through the 
medium of the senses, though it is not directly capable 
Abstract ideas, of being pcrccivcd. No one ever per- 
ceived greenness through the senses. We have seen 
many green objects, and this common characteristic has 



THOUGHT. 167 

been abstracted, drawn off from them, and made a 
quality. 

How do we get our ideas of hope, fear, courage, 
gentleness, etc. ? May an abstract idea be a concept, 
and, if so, under what conditions ? Is it generally true 
that a concept consists of more than a single abstract 
idea ? Demonstrate the truth of your answer. May 
we conclude from our answers to these questions that 
an abstract idea would mean the same thing to all per- 
sons ? How much influence would our Problems, 
surroundings exert upon the formation of abstract 
ideas ? Compare the abstract ideas of an inhabitant 
of *' darkest Africa " with those of a cultured American. 

It is well to remember that words, as commonly 
used, may have two significations. The word '' ani- 
mal," for example, may mean the qualities ^^^ sigmfica- 
which distineruish a certain object from *'°"^ of terms: 

*-• •' ■ I. Meaning in 

the vegetable and mineral kingdoms, intension. 
This is called the intensive meaning of the word. 
On the other hand, the same word may be used to 
designate any member of the animal kingdom, from 
man down to the smallest insect. This „,/,•• 

2. Meaning; in 

is its meaning in extension. These two ^^^^"sion. 
meanings of words are very convenient in forming con- 
cepts. As we subdivide the class, we find that the 
number of qualities which belong to each subdivision 



l68 ESSENTIALS OF PSYCHOLOGY. 

becomes greater. If we should substitute the word 
** feline" for ''animal," we should greatly limit the 
extension, but the intension would be increased, be- 
cause the number of qualities necessary to define the 
cat family would be much greater than those which 
would designate animals, though the individual mem- 
bers of the cat family would comprise but a small part 
of the animal kingdom. 

At what stage in the formation of concepts are we 
especially concerned with the intensive meaning of 

Problems. tcrms ? At what stage with the mean- 
ing in extension } What general law may be formu- 
lated concerning the relation of extension to intension, 
and vice versa f 

The second process in thinking consists in the for- 
mation of judgments. The word ''judgment" is used 
II. Judgment. in SO many senses that we shall need to 
define the sense in which we propose to use it. It is 
often used in the sense of making up one's mind, com- 
ing to a definite decision. 

In logic and psychology the word is to be defined as 
a statement, or proposition, consisting of a subject and 
Judgment de- ^ predicate. The subject and predicate 
^^^^' may represent objects of presentation, of 

memory, or of conception, which are placed over 
against each other and joined by the copula. 



THOUGHT. 169 

In contrast with conception, which we characterized 
as thought in the form of analysis, we may say that 
judgment is thought in the form of syn- judgment as 
thesis. Thus every iudsrment implies a ^y^thesis, im- 

J J c> J. plying compar- 

comparison. When I say, *' The horse is ^^°"' 
useful," I have pronounced a judgment — the judgment 
being that the two objects compared, the horse and 
useful things, agree. 

Does agreement imply identity } The statement that 
man is not immortal pronounces a judgment of dis- 
agreement between the objects compared. Problems. 
Illustrate judgments of agreement and disagreement, 
using sense objects, images, and concepts in both sub- 
ject and predicate. 

It will be noticed that before judgment can be 
rendered, that is, before a statement of agreement or 
disagreement can be made, there must have been 
observation and memory. Can you show Problems, 
this to be true from the above examples or from those 
of your own making ? I draw a line on the board and 
ask you how long it is. Upon what does the accuracy 
of your answer depend ? " 

Although psychology has, strictly speaking, nothing 
to do with the truth or falsity of the judgments formed, 
each being a mental act equally with the other, it is yet 
within our province as students of the human mind to 



I/O ESSENTIALS OF PSYCHOLOGY. 

inquire what is the condition of the mind in the two 

cases, and why one judgment is said to be true, 

another false. Though our perceptions 

Why one judg- 
ment true, an- bc perfectly accurate, and though the 

other false. 

images formed by memory be exact 
reproductions of things observed, if, when two objects 
are placed over against each other and the statement 
of the relation existing between them is made, this 
judgment does not agree with that which we have 
heretofore considered to be true, the judgment is pro- 
nounced to be false. 

Illustrate this by the common opinion about the 
theory of evolution, by the treatment accorded the 

Problems. theory of the rotundity of the earth dur- 
ing the fifteenth century, by the treatment of Galileo, 
Kepler, and Sir Isaac Newton. Note in all these and 
in similar cases that nothing is said about the truth 
or falsity of the percepts, or images, but only of 
the relation said to exist between these percepts and 
images and the body of what was supposed to be real 
knowledge. 

If, then, our present judgments do not agree with 
our former judgments, we find it necessary to change 
either the one or the other. This is but another way 
of repeating that the mind tends to act as it has 
acted before, that paths of action become worn, and 



THOUGHT. 171 

any departure from these worn paths becomes increas- 
ingly difficult. As a result, when new ideas that can- 
not be assimilated to the old ones pre- 

The mind tends 

sent themselves, we are apt to pronounce to act as it has 

. acted before. 

any judgments made concernmg them. 

that do not harmonize with our established judgments 

to be false. 

This necessity of harmonizing the judgments that we 
form to-day with all those made hereto- Difficult to form 

a correct judg- 

fore and stowed away in the mind, makes ment at times. 
it a difficult matter sometimes to arrive at a correct 
judgment. 

Show how this has been true in the case of judg- 
ments about steam as a motive power. How has the 
difficulty been apparent in the develop- Problems, 
ment of electrical science -from the time when elec- 
tricity was supposed to be a quality of amber (Greek, 
electron) down to the present t 

We may easily show, by tracing the development of 
any industry, that it is this constant com- ^vv^at consti- 
parison of concepts and the readjustment *"^^^ progress, 
of their relations to one another that constitutes 
progress. 

The conditions or states of the mind with reference 
to judgments, so far as we need to consider them, are 
three in number. First, the mind judges, and when 



1/2 ESSENTIALS OF PSYCHOLOGY. 

the judgment is stated the mind looks upon it as a 
truth. This condition we call belief. There are times, 
c^ ^ ,- however, when a iudo-ment that we have 

States or condi- ' J & ^ 

tions of mind formed is found to be out of harmony 

with reference -' 

to judgments, with prcvious judgmcuts and with gen- 
erally accepted truth. In this case the mind reviews 
the judgment, holding the statement of the relation 
between two concepts in suspense for more extended 
examination. In this instance the mind is in a state 
of doubt. Again, a stated judgment may have all the 
evidence in its favor, and yet we may be unable to 
reconcile it with our own previous knowledge. Here 
we have the condition of unbelief. 

Problems. Givc an illustratiou of each of these three 
conditions. Can there be such a thing as universal 
doubt.'* Why.'* Can we disbelieve everything.'* Why.'* 

The first judgments of childhood are intuitive, with 

no defined relation to what has gone before. This 

intuitive formation of judgments lasts 

Intuitive forma- 
tion of judg- until the body of knowledge gained is 

large enough to overshadow and regu- 
late succeeding acquisitions. Curious answers to the 
question ''Why.?" are given by children who have 
not learned to view things in their proper relations. 
Most of our judgments, however, are reached by 



THOUGHT. 173 

inference, formed from other judgments. The forma- 
tion of judgments by inference is called reasoning, 
which is the third of the thinking proc- judgments 

TTT • • formed by in- 

esses. We are reasonmg m one way or Terence 
another nearly all the time. I look out "^- R^a?°"i'^g- 
of the window and say, "The sun is shining." I can- 
not see the sun ; my judgment is an inference. Stated 
in full, it might read something like this : 

Whenever I see a certain bright light on the leaves, 
the sun is shining. 

I see that bright light on the leaves. 

Therefore, the sun is shining. 

We do not need to state the propositions upon which 
our conclusions are based in order to reason. Implicit 
reasoning, as it is called, is by far the ij^pucit rea- 
most common kind, but it may always be ^°"^"s- 
made explicit if we choose. It will be noted that in 
reasoning there is always present a universal element, 
indicated in the above example by the word ''when- 
ever." 

All inferential reasoning may be divided into two 
classes, — inductive and deductive. 

Reasoning by induction is passing from the particu- 
lar to the general, from the cases observed inductive rea- 
to the general law. For example, it has ^°"^"s- 
been observed in the past that one generation of men 



174 ESSENTIALS OF PSYCHOLOGY. 

has died, to be succeeded by another, which died in 
turn. From these observations of the past, relying 
upon our belief in the uniformity of nature, we draw 
the conclusion that all men now living, and all that 
may be born hereafter, will die. 

Our general law will be liable to error in proportion 
to the degree of imperfection in our induction. To 
Perfect indue- ^^^.kc a pcrfcct inductiou, we must observe 
*'°"' every possible case. If, for instance, I 

observe all the articles lying on my desk and make a 
general statement about them, — the ink-well is useful; 
the pencils are useful ; the pens and the paper are also 
useful; therefore, all the articles on my desk are useful, 
— there is no chance for error. 

But, in the nature of the case, perfect inductions are 
rare, because we cannot examine every case to which 
Perfect indue ^^^ general law might apply. Even in our 
tions rare. commou cvcryday life we reason by imper- 

fect inductions, as when we go to a store to purchase 
food, clothing, or fuel. We could not say that the food 
would nourish, the clothing warm, or the fuel burn, until 
we had observed this particular food, clothing, and fuel, 
unless we inferred it from former experiences. 

Give examples of perfect and imperfect inductions. 

Problems. What is the difference between induction 
and generalization as we studied it under conception ? 



THOUGHT. 175 

The examination of both inductive and deductive 
reasoning properly belongs to the science of logic, but 
we are concerned with them here to the underlying 
extent of ascertaininsr the underlying^ prin- P"ncipie upon 

^ y o i which induction 

ciple upon which the mind rests in drawing ^^^*^- 
inferences. It should be apparent from the illustra- 
tions given that the underlying principle upon which 
all our inductive inferences are based is a belief in the 
uniformity of nature. This principle may be stated 
as follows : We believe that what is true of anything 
to-day will be true of the same thing or anything like 
it at any other time, if the conditions remain unchanged. 
Upon this belief, or some modification of it, all induc- 
tive reasoning is based. Even more than this may be 
said. This general truth, in which everybody believes 
without proof, is the great axiom from which all other 
general truths are derived. 

Deductive reasoning begins where inductive reason- 
ing ends, with a general law. Having observed that 
the case in hand belon2:s to the class r^ . ^. 

o Deductive rea- 

about which the general law is stated, ^°'^^"s:- 

we proceed to apply the law to this particular case : 

All men are mortal. 

John Jones is a man. 

Therefore, John Jones is mortal. 

This is reasoning from the general to the particular. 



176 ESSENTIALS OF PSYCHOLOGY. 

All deductive reasoning may be described as reason- 
ing by comparison. In the example the unit of com- 
Reasoning by parison, technically known as the middle 
use of a middle |-gj-j^ jg man. A man is a mortal beinec ; 

term or unit of *-* 

comparison. John Joucs is a man. John Jones and a 
mortal being are each compared with man, and since 
both agree with man they must agree with each other : 
'therefore, John Jones is mortal. 

How is the axiom '' that things that are equal to 
Problem. the Same thing are equal to each other" 
derived from the belief in the uniformity of nature ? 

Units of comparison are concepts, and our ability to 

reason well depends upon the number of clear concepts 

that we have at command. We must 

Units of com- 
parison are hcrc uotc ouc poiut that is apt to escape 

concepts, and 

are used as obscrvatiou. Thcsc uuits of comparison 

standards. . 

that we make use 01 m reasonmg are an 
expression of our standards. If I argue : 

All gambling is immoral. 

Playing cards for prizes is gambling. 

Therefore, playing cards for prizes is immoral, — 
Ihave in my mind a definite standard. 

This standard may change, too, with advancing 
Standards ycars and with the advance in civiliza- 

changebothin ^'^^^ y^ standard of pleasure to-day is 

individuals and •' ^ ■' 

in peoples, ^ot what it was whcu I was a child. An 



THOUGHT. 177 

argument in which pleasure was the unit of comparison, 
that would have had weight with me then, falls without 
effect now. The idea or standard of morality which 
might be used by a cannibal as a unit of comparison 
could hardly bear the test of our civilization. 

Give examples to show the change in standards due 
to advancing years, civilization, religion. Problem. 

The object of reasoning, the reason for which we 
have been given this power, is that we object of rea- 
may arrive at new knowledge by a shorter ^°"*"s- 
route than by the tedious process of observing every 
case that may arise. 

While this is true, it is also true that we are apt to 
form inferences too hastily, to jump to conclusions 
without sufficient examination of the data „ ^ . , 

Hasty inier- 

upon which the inferences are based. For ^"'^^^' 
example, consider the peculiar political conditions in 
the United States from 1892 to 1896. In the former 
year a national congress was elected in which one of 
the great political parties had a substantial majority. 
Then came the hard times. In 1894, when another 
congress was elected, the party in power was turned out, 
an overwhelming majority of the opposing party being 
elected. But times grew worse instead of better, and 
in 1896 another revolution took place. The adminis- 
tration and the congress received the blame for the 



1/8 ESSENTIALS OF PSYCHOLOGY. 

-hard times. The voter jumped to the conclusion that 
those men were responsible, overlooking all the influ- 
ences that were bearing on conditions of trade, etc. 
Give other examples. What kind of reasoning was 
Problems, uscd by Franklin in his great discovery ? 
what by Sir Isaac Newton ? what by Fulton ? what by 
Edison ? 

In addition to the general underlying principle stated 

above, we may, for the guidance of the student in 

thinking, enunciate three auxiliary prin- 

Auxiliary 

principles of ciplcs. First, everything is or is not. 

thought. ... 

We cannot say that a rose is either red 
or blue, but we can say that a rose is red or not red, 
the ''not red" including all other possible conditions 
except that of redness. Second, there is no such thing 
as being and not being at the same time. A man may 
be alive or not alive. He certainly cannot be alive 
and not alive at the same time. Third, everything is 
always what it is. A rose is always a rose ; redness is 
always redness, no matter what the conditions may be. 
In the three processes of thought — conception, judg- 
ment, reasoning — we have found that the 

Principal 

thought tela- important thing to be considered is the 

tions upon which 

inferences are relation which One objcct, image, or con_ 

based. 

cept bears to another, as on the relation 
grasped by the mind depends the conclusion or new 



THOUGHT. 179 

fact at which we arrive. That the student may find it 
easier to understand the thinking processes, it may be 
well to mention some of the most prominent relations, 
though they are perfectly familiar. These relations 
are relations of time, space, cause and effect, whole 
and part, unity, diversity, quantity, and design. Many 
philosophers maintain that these ideas are intuitive ; 
that is, that when we see a new object the relation at 
once suggests itself to the mind and is accepted as axio- 
matic. Others maintain that all these general relations 
come to us only through experience. There are many 
good arguments on both sides. We may feel free to 
use the relations without entering into the discussion. 

The question is often asked. Do animals reason ? 
The intelligence of some animals is so great that it 
seems impossible to deny that they have j^^^ animals 
the reasoning power, and yet, on the other ^^^s°"' 
hand, to say that animals can reason seems to carry 
with it so much by implication that we hesitate to 
make the statement. Many times have I seen a dog 
attempt to catch a woodchuck by running straight to 
his hole, or burrow, when he saw the animal at some 
distance from it. 

Give any examples of the wonderful intelligence of 
animals that may have come under your Problem, 
observation. 



l8o ESSENTIALS OF PSYCHOLOGY. 

Now, let us see if we can give a satisfactory explana- 
tion of these cases. The clog had chased the wood- 
chuck many times, and the chase had 

Explanation of 

animal reason- cudcd abruptly by the disappearance of 

ing. 

the animal in the hole. Now, when the 
dog saw him at a distance, the images of his former 
experiences chased one another through his mind with 
great rapidity. Of course the last image was a picture 
of the hole and the woodchuck together. Acting on 
this association of images, the dog went to the hole at 
once by the shortest route. Can you not explain all 
cases of animal intelligence by this rule : Animal rea- 
soning is simply action resulting from the association 
of concrete objects ? 

The difference between this kind of reasoning — 
associational reasoning, if we may call it such — and 
H„^o^ «oe«t, the reasoning; of the human being;, which 

Human reason- o o' 

ing compared applics the concrctc and the past experi- 

with associa- '■ ^ ^ ^ 

tionai reasoning. ^^^^ ^^ ^^iQ abstract and the unknown, 
which uses not merely the association by similarity 
based on the past but also detects the slightest asso- 
ciation where all seems to be dissimilarity, and carries 
its processes through intricate data and long spaces of 
time with the greatest tenacity of purpose, is so great 
as to be immeasurable. 



CHAPTER XI. 

FEELING AND EMOTION. 

We now proceed to examine the second of the 
great functions of mind — the sensibility sensibility. 
— through the phenomena which are called feelings. 

Feelings stand as a sort of connecting link between 
knowing and doing, furnishing the purpose, or desire, 
or motive which leads us to volitional Feelings, 
activity. The sensibility is thus a purely subjective 
faculty, individual, personal. It is also a very impor- 
tant function of the human mind, because it does 
stand between the knowing intellect and the acting 
will, securing the interested attention until knowledge 
is consummated in action. 

Feeling may be defined as a mental state of pleasure 
or pain, using these terms in a very broad sense. Nearly 
all our mental states may be placed in one Feeling defined, 
class or the other, very few being indifferent or neutral. 
Some one may say, '* I am utterly indifferent whether 
my neighbor wears a becoming bonnet or not." We 
may well answer to such a statement, *' If you were 
indifferent you would never have known that the bonnet 



l82 ESSENTIALS OF PSYCHOLOGY. 

was either becoming or unbecoming." The agreeable 
or the disagreeable enters so very closely into all our 
experiences that we may safely leave the neutral state 
out of the account. 

Some sensations have been termed feelings, but 
there should be no danger of confusing the two. 
c»„co*-^„. o^^ Foi" the benefit of the youns; student we 

Sensations and J o 

feelings. ^^^^ indicate a method of distinguishing 

feelings from sensations. We found, when study- 
ing sensations, that they are always referred to 
some definite locality, but we cannot localize feel- 
ings. Furthermore, sensations are directly productive 
of feelings. 

Pleasure and pain would seem to need no definition. 
The one is an agreeable, the other a disagreeable state. 
Pleasure and related to each other by contrast. It is 
P^^"' often said that pleasure is absence of pain, 

— as if pain were the necessity of our being, — in the 
constant fight to ward off which we win more or less of 
the negative state of pleasure in proportion to the degree 
of our success. Systems of education in which this 
idea held a prominent place have flourished in the not 
far distant past. Indeed, we are only just learning that 
pleasure is the normal state, and that it is through our 
disobedience to some law of our nature that pleasure 
gives way to pain. 



FEELING AND EMOTION. 183 

Upon what conditions do our states of pleasure 
or pain rest ? The answer is to be found conditions of 

pleasure and 

by examining the stimuH that produce pain, 
these states. 

First, let us vary the intensity of the stimulus. The 
moderately sour taste of an apple produces a sensation 
which results in a pleasurable feeling, ^^ intensity of 
while the same kind of sensation produced stimulus. 
by the more intense stimulus of vinegar arouses a dis- 
agreeable or painful feeling. 

Give other examples illustrating feelings aroused by 
sensations from each of the other senses. Problems. 
What would be the feelings aroused by more and less 
intense thought ? Illustrate. 

We may state as a general law that moderately 
intense stimuli produce a state of pleasure, while the 
same stimuli of excessive intensity pro- ^aw of reaction 
duce states of pain. This law is really ^° s^^'""^*- 
but another way of saying that a nerve when exercised 
gives pleasure, but when overworked rebels. 

Second, we may vary the form of the stimulus. The 
following is one of the easiest and most satisfactory 
experiments to illustrate the difference 

2. Form of 

in mental states produced in this way. stimulus. 

Experiment. 

Strike several keys on the piano at once. 

The feeling, which is the resultant of the sensation 



l84 ESSENTIALS OF PSYCHOLOGY. 

produced, will be pleasurable or painful according to 
the harmony or discord of the sounds ; that is, if the 
vibration numbers are at such intervals as to produce 
a more or less distinct ''beat" we are disagreeably 
affected. 

Is there any explanation of the reason why a ** beat " 
Problem. should be disagrceablc ? 

Third, we may vary the kind of stimulus. In case 
the stimulus is prolonged, we experience at first a 
3. Kind of pleasurable feeling, which is continued 

stimulus. until the sense becomes fatigued, when 

the pleasure changes to pain. If, however, before the 
point of fatigue is reached, a stimulus of a different 
kind is introduced, there is none of the disagreeable 
feeling resulting from fatigue. In this way the pleas- 
ure may be indefinitely prolonged. This, of course, pre- 
supposes that the feeling aroused at first is agreeable. 

Furthermore, we may superimpose one stimulus upon 
another as a variation in kind. For example, I have the 
Superposition toothachc, and the painful feeling result- 
of stimuli. -j^g -g intense. Suddenly I hear strains 

of soft, sweet music. I am so delighted with the 
music that the pleasure banishes the pain. 

The habits that we have formed also modify our 
Habit and pleas- ^tatcs of plcasurc Or pain. The man who 
ureorpain. j^g^g ^^^ smoking habit, for example, is in 



FEELING AND EMOTION. 185 

a state of pain all the remainder of the day if deprived 
of his after-dinner cigar. 

Give other illustrations. Does this apply to mental 
as well as physical habits ? Problem. 

Having noted the general aspects and conditions of 
feelings, we come to the separation of varieties of 
feelings into varieties. This may best be ^^^^**^8^^- 
done by taking into consideration the sources of the 
feelings. 

The first variety will be sense feelings — those result- 
ing from sensations. Feelings arising from sensations 
of taste and smell affect us more power- i. sense feelings, 
fully than we are apt to think. So strong are these 
feelings that we apply the names of the sensations, as 
bitter, sweet, to experiences and feelings having nothing 
to do with taste or smell. Touch sensations produce 
agreeable or disagreeable mental states under varying 
conditions. Thus, in summer we like to come in contact 
with cool substances, while warmth is disagreeable ; in 
winter only warm substances produce agreeable feel- 
ings. The sensations produced by contact with soft, 
smooth, yielding substances are generally agreeable. 
Most people are fond of stroking fur. The pleasures 
and pains resulting from sound sensations correspond 
to the musical or unmusical nature of the sound. All 
noises are disagreeable in their nature, all musical 



l86 ESSENTIALS OF PSYCHOLOGY. 

tones agreeable. We may note also the difference in 
the effects produced by low, regular tones and the 
higher notes, and by slower and quicker movement ; 
in the one case soothing and serious, in the other viva- 
cious and exciting. Doubtless we derive more pleas- 
ure from the sense of sight than from any other ; that 
is, the proportion of pleasurable to painful sensations 
is greatest through this sense. We speak of warm 
and cool, of quiet and loud colors, and we appreciate 
the effects produced by the endless combinations of 
exquisite tints. 

We must remember, however, when thinking of sense 
feelings, that they are not simple. There is all the 
Sense feelings ^imc accompauyiug them an image of 
not simple. p^g^ feclings, which image modifies the 

effects of the present sensations. 

The second variety of feelings is that resulting 
from ideas — emotions. Emotions, it will be observed, 

2. Emotions, differ from sense feelings in their source, 
which is the re-presentative faculty, the sense feelings 
being aroused by presentation. Emotions are, there- 
fore, far more complex in their nature than the agree- 
able or disagreeable states of mind that we call sense 
feelings. 

Emotions differ from sense feelings also in the 
period of time covered by their rise and subsidence. 



FEELING AND EMOTION. 187 

The child falls and bumps his head. The painful feel- 
ing is soon gone and the child is happy again ; but 

the child, startled into sudden fear, can- 
Emotions and 

not recover from the effects so soon. In sense feelings 

compared. 

fact, he may never recover his normal 
condition. The emotion takes time both for its devel- 
opment and for its retirement, as it is a complex 
product of feelings and images of feelings. 

There is, from the very nature of the case, a tendency 
in feelings and emotions to react upon each other. 
When the feeling and the image called up 

Feelings and 

by it have produced an emotion the tend- emotions react 

upon each other. 

ency is to strengthen the feeling, which, 
in turn, intensifies the emotion. For example, a pain 
in the groin may be associated with such images as 
to produce fear of appendicitis. This fear will tend 
to react upon and intensify the feeling of pain. As 
the painful sense feeling is thus reinforced, the emo- 
tion is also intensified, until relief comes or collapse 
ensues. 

Emotions may be strengthened by expressing them, 
while by carefully repressing all expression we may 

greatly weaken if not kill the emotion. Effect of ex- 
pressing an 
The most skillful actors find themselves emotion. 

really apt to feel the emotions that they express upon 

the stage. 



i88 



ESSENTIALS OF PSYCHOLOGY. 



What is the practical value of the advice often given 
to children to '* count ten before answering, if you are 

Problems. angry " ? What do the expressions " work- 
ing himself up into a passion," '' nursing his wrath to 
keep it warm," ''stifling fear," '' swallowing his wrath," 
etc., mean ? 

There is a natural expression of emotions by the 
Natural physical body, whcthcr by coutortion of the fea- 

expression of 

emotions. turcs, posturc, or attitude. How is joy 

Problems. cxprcsscd in the face ? In the accompany- 

ing figure what change in expression results from the 




Fig. 24. 

downward curve to the upward curve ? Describe the 
appropriate physical expression of fear, pride, hatred, 
grief. What would be the natural effect of following 
Hamlet's advice to his queen mother, ''Assume a 
virtue, if you have it not " ? 



FEELING AND EMOTION. 189 

Emotions exert a powerful influence upon our abil- 
ity to think. Intense emotion, whether Effect of emo- 
tions upon 
pleasurable or painful, suspends for the thought. 

time all power to think connectedly. 

We sometimes hear that a person was "carried away 
by his feelings." What does it mean .'' What did 
Festus mean when he said to Paul, " Thou Problems, 
art beside thyself ; much learning doth make thee 
mad".? (Acts xxvi. 24). 

But a moderate degree of emotion stimulates the 
power to think well. For instance, a lawyer who be- 
lieves that his client is the innocent victim 

Moderate emo- 

of persecution can think far better than if tion stimulates 

thought. 

he had no feeling of sympathy. The kind 
of emotion will lend its own color to the thoughts pro- 
duced under its influence. Pleasant emotions will tend 
to produce bright, happy thoughts ; fear, anger, or 
jealousy will stir up thoughts corresponding to their 
own lines of action. Personal interest, egoism, preju- 
dices the thought. As some one has said, ''Many of 
us, on account of the interference of emotions, are will- 
ing to declare that two and two make five, while others 
cannot account for the sum being more than three." 

Illustrate the foregoing principles from your own 
experience if possible. Why is it often pos- Problems, 
sible to read a person's thoughts In his face or action ? 



190 ESSENTIALS OF PSYCHOLOGY. 

Any classification that may be attempted is attended 

with difficulty, not only because of their complexity, 

but also because of their interrelations 

Classification of 

emotions diffi- with One anothcr. For this reason no 

cult. 

classification has yet been proposed that 
is superior to that usually found in the text-books of 
the psychologists of the old school. The new psycholo- 
gists, many of them at least, do not attempt a classifi- 
cation, and as a result the student is very apt to be 
uncertain what to think. That we may avoid this con- 
dition we shall classify the emotions, with the under- 
standing that no such classification can be exact, and 
that any emotion placed in one class to-day may pre- 
sent phases to-morrow that would lead us to put it in 
another class. 

I. Egoistic emotions, which may be defined as those 
centering in self. We may classify under this head 
Egoistic emo- ^^Y Gi^iotion that prompts us to act for 
*^°"^' our own advancement, or that prompts us 

to escape from anything that would injure us. 

Mention some emotions that you would classify as 
egoistic. Do you think there is any need of cultivating 

Problems. the cgoistic cmotions, or may we leave 
self-preservation and advancement to instinct .'* What 
gave rise to the proverbial expressions, " If you don't 
take care of yourself, nobody will," "The Lord helps 



FEELING AND EMOTION. IQI 

those who help themselves " ? Why is it that we do 
not look upon an action done by ourselves as severely 
as upon the same action when done by another person ? 
Do you see any signs that people are growing impartial 
in their judgment of their own acts and those of others, 
and if so, what ? What can be said about civilization 
until perfect impartiality is reached ? 

II. Altruistic emotions, which are directed toward 
others. Altruistic emotions, the principal ingredient 
in which is sympathy, a feeling with Altruistic 
others, constitute the foundation upon ^"^°*^°"s. 
which the structure of civilized society has been reared. 
It may be seen by analyzing sympathy how close the 
relationship between the classes of emotions really is. 
We truly sympathize with another only when we are 
able to put ourselves in that other's place, and make, 
fof the time being, his experiences our own. This 
shows sympathy to be a complex form of an egoistic 
emotion. It is this possibility of putting ourselves in 
another's place that has inspired all the noble acts of 
charity of which, if we would see the monuments, we 
have only to look about us. The more enlightened we 
become, the more we look upon mankind as a brother- 
hood, the oftener shall we put ourselves in others' 
places and enter into their experiences, and the more 
fully developed will be the emotion that moves the world. 



192 ESSENTIALS OF PSYCHOLOGY. 

Mention some emotions that you would call altruistic. 
Show why it is necessary that two people have similar 

Problems. tastcs and experiences in order that they 
may enter into the closest sympathy. Can we be sorry 
for another without sympathizing with him ? Show 
how memory and imagination enter into an altruistic 
emotion, e.£^., love. Why is it easier to sympathize 
with one who is dear to us than with any other person ? 
Why do we build hospitals, asylums, colleges, etc. ? 
Do you think there is any danger that too much sym- 
pathy with others will ever be developed ? 

We may ask ourselves whether the development of 
altruism is a good thing, and if we decide that it is. 
Development of ^hat is the bcst mcthod of intelligently 
sympathy. developing it. No person can hope to 

develop sympathy with others by shutting himself away 
from his fellows. It is only by moving among those 
who are in need of sympathy that interest in their 
welfare is aroused. The miser, the recluse, the only 
child of indulgent parents, cannot be expected to be 
thoughtful of the needs of others, or to enter heartily 
into their joys and sorrows. By carefully observing 
the needs of others, by stowing them away in the 
memory, by thinking them over and imagining them 
applied to one's own case, one can develop the finer 
social traits. 



FEELING AND EMOTION. 



193 



Intellectual 
emotions. 



III. Intellectual emotions. Egoistic emotions may 
be said to be largely instinctive in their nature. Altru- 
istic emotions deal with the concrete. We 
sympathize with a person, or, it may be, 
with an animal, as is shown by the existence of Audu- 
bon societies and other associations for the prevention 
of cruelty to animals. Many of the lower animals 
share in these two classes of emotions. In intellectual 
emotions, however, we rise from the concrete into 
the regions of the abstract. From the very nature of 
the case we shall hardly expect to find intellectual 
emotions highly developed in children, or, indeed, in 
any one who has not received sufficient education to 
develop an appreciation of intellectual, aesthetic, or 
moral abstractions. 

The underlying principle or motive power in all 
intellectual emotions we shall find to be curiosity, the 
desire to learn more than we know at curiosity as the 
present. When developed to the highest ,^°'^;eiiectrai 
extent, the resultant emotion becomes e"^°*i°"s- 
love of knowledge for its own sake. The curiosity that 
leads us to persevere until we have solved a problem 
or carried a line of investigation to a successful issue is 
responsible for the great advance in intellectual pursuits. 

We may note that the pleasurable intellectual emo- 
tion comes at the end, or in anticipation of the end, of 



194 ESSENTIALS OF PSYCHOLOGY. 

the intellectual action. The solution of the problem 

by the mathematician, the working out of the principle 

by the mechanic or inventor, may not be 

Pleasure comes 

at end of intei- plcasurablc in themselves. On the con- 

lectual action. 

trary, there is often the disagreeable sense 
of intense strain and effort. The imagination pictures 
the coming triumph, but for which stimulating force 
the laborer would often throw down his tools in despair. 
Generally speaking, too, intellectual emotion does not 
react so severely upon the physical system as do the 
others that have been mentioned. One would not 
expect a person to be so agitated by mastering a prob- 
lem in geometry as by fear of one's own safety or by 
sympathy with the suffering of one's friend. 

The student of the best literature finds his intellec- 
tual emotions stimulated in a legitimate fashion by the 

suggestions of similarity in diversity there 

Literature and 

intellectual prescutcd. When two things never before 

emotions. 

brought together in the mind are found 



'&"'" "^&' 



in juxtaposition, the pleasure resulting is great in pro- 
portion to our appreciation of the suggestion of the 
author. 

If this is true, what kind of literature should give 
us the best intellectual enjoyment ? How may we 

Problems. tcst the degree of refinement to which 
our emotional natures have been cultivated ? Analyze 



FEELING AND EMOTION. 195 

the difference between the following expressions of the 

same fact : 

For every wave, with dimpled face, 
That leap'd upon the air, 
Had caught a star in its embrace, 
And held it trembling there; 

Mrs. Welby: 

— and ''The foam sparkled as the waves rolled upon 
the shore." Can you explain what Lessing meant by 
saying, " If God should impose the alternative, I would 
prefer the pursuit of truth to its actual attainment " ? 

IV. Aesthetic emotions, which may be defined as 
the feelings, pleasurable or disagreeable, Aesthetic em 
arising from the perception of the beauti- *^°"^* 
ful or its opposite. 

There are several characteristics of aesthetic emo- 
tions which should receive our attention. An emotion 
aroused by beauty must be pure, that is, characteris 
it must give pleasure without any mixture *^^^ °^' 
of the desire for possession, and without consuming the 
object that arouses it, in order to be aesthetic. The 
aesthetic emotions are lacking in purpose. There is 
no idea of future good to be derived from the present 
object ; we surrender ourselves to the enjoyment of 
the moment, forgetful of all else besides. The mind 
seems to be in a passive condition, drinking in the 
enjoyment. Further, it is an emotion that can be 



196 ESSENTIALS OF PSYCHOLOGY, 

enjoyed with others, a social emotion. In these days 
we may be expected to call it the impractical emotion. 
The enjoyment to be derived from a fine painting, 
a beautiful landscape, or the soul-stirring charms of 
exquisite music, has nothing of the " practical " about 
it, if we use the word '' practical" in its modern 
accepted sense, as ''that which conduces to the acquire- 
ment of dollars." 

And yet we cannot entirely rid ourselves of the tend- 
ency to appreciate the beautiful things that have been 
Some degree of pl^ced in thc world for our enjoyment. 
thTbelut^fuifs Every child shows this tendency in his 
universal. j^^.^ £qj. ^^iQ brightest colors ; savages 

show it in their fantastic garb ; semi-civilized peoples 
show it in their crude attempts at artistic ornamenta- 
tion ; and even we, in our ''practical," humdrum life, 
must follow the fashions and array ourselves in becom- 
ing clothing ; must plant flowers in our gardens and 
keep our lawns mown. 

Walking in Central Park, New Y^ork City, I heard 
some one wondering why certain portions of it were 
Problems. uot graded, and why the trees were not 
trimmed into artistic shapes. Did this show a true 
appreciation of the beautiful ? Which is really more 
artistic, a landscape just as Nature makes it, or one 
fresh from the hands of the landscape gardener ? 



FEELING AND EMOTION. 197 

Let us analyze the aesthetic emotions into their 
elements for the purpose of finding out whether they 
are really valuable or not. In the first 

Analysis of aes- 

place, we find a sense feeling aroused by thetic emotions. 

Sense element. 

the action of one or both of the two 
senses, hearing and sight. This sense feeling may 
give aesthetic pleasure at once, as when we look upon 
a beautiful sunset or hear the chimes in the cathedral 
tower. Aesthetic pleasure through the medium of 
sensation alone is not, however, of the highest order. 
Children, savages, and ignorant people enjoy colors in 
masses, with little regard for the harmonizing and 
blending of tints. It is only as the senses are modified 
and controlled by the higher faculties that we learn to 
discriminate with nicety that which is truly artistic in 
the highest sense. 

This discriminative grouping and arranging of the 
sense elements we may call the intellectual quality. 
The person with the trained intellect finds intellectual eie- 
more of beauty in the working of Nature's ™^"*" 
laws than the ignoramus. The cultivated traveler gets 
far more enjoyment from his journeys than the one 
who lacks this cultivation, and the same is true of him 
who enters the workshop or the laboratory. 

The third element may be called the imaginative, 
associative, or ideal element. What makes a heap of 



iqS essentials of psychology. 

ivy-covered stones in Europe more interesting than a 
Associative eie- similar heap in America? Simply the 
"'^"*" imagination, v^hich associates the Euro- 

pean pile with some well-known event in the past. 

Why would you prefer a trip up the Hudson to one 
up the Missouri.? What influence would Washington 

Problems. Irving havc over your decision .'* Why do 
so many people who live in America prefer to go 
abroad rather than to travel in our own country, though 
the scenery in America is finer than any to be found 
abroad .'' If this element is necessary in order that we 
may reach the highest enjoyment, do you see any aes- 
thetic advantages in obtaining a good education ? 
Would we not be just as well off without aesthetic 
emotions ? Why ? Do all people think the same 
things beautiful ? Can you tell why ? 

If we should visit any great art gallery, we should 
be able to find great differences between the schools 
standards of ^^ painting of different countries and of 
taste change. different centuries. This would show 
that taste changes. What is considered good taste in 
America to-day may not be so considered a hundred 
years hence, nor may it be pleasing to the Euro- 
pean of the present. And yet, within certain limits, 
we may say that the standard of aesthetic emotion, 
that is to say, of good taste, for any age and country is 



FEELING AND EMOTION. 199 

set by the intelligent, cultivated people of that age 
and country. 

Under the aesthetic emotions should be mentioned 
in particular the emotions of the sublime and the 
ludicrous. The feeling of the sublime is Emotion of the 
excited by that which is beyond our power ^"^^^"^^• 
to grasp, by the vast, infinite, incomprehensible. If you 
stand on the shore of the ocean and look off over 
its surface, you will probably experience this emotion. 
The sense of sight is filled full, and you have the feel- 
ing of the immensity of the beyond. The same feeling 
comes if you lie on the ground and gaze up into space. 
Just think of God, the Being of infinity ! 

Directly opposed to this feeling of sublimity is the 
feeling of the ludicrous, which arises from littleness, 
incongruity, grotesqueness. Under the peeiing of the 
ludicrous come the different forms of wit ^"^^'='"°"s. 
and humor. 

In wit there is always the sense of superiority. 
The person at whose expense the laugh is raised is 
made to appear small, of little account. wit. 

Wit is thus often personal, and is apt to have a keen 
edge and a sharp sting. 

Humor, on the other hand, arises from the incon- 
gruous or grotesque. It has a kindly Humor, 
element in it, and does not give pain. 



200 ESSENTIALS OF PSYCHOLOGY. 

V. Moral emotions, which, though containing the 
elements of all the others, are yet distinct, separate, 
Moral emotions, and pccuHar in their power. To begin 
with the end toward which moral emotions are directed, 
we find that they deal exclusively with human actions. 
The perception of the beautiful in nature or the human 
form may arouse an aesthetic emotion, but not a moral 
emotion, because there is no distinction of right and 
wrong in them. That is to say, the moral emotion 
becomes a judge of the rightness or wrongness of 
actions. The actions of the lower animals can have no 
moral quality, can arouse no moral emotions in us, 
because their actions have nothing of the right or 
wrong about them. 

Even in the judgment of human actions our moral 

emotions are modified by the circumstances attending 

the actions. Moral actions must be willed. 

Moral emotions 

modified by cir- If thcrc was no choicc in the act, we can 

cumstances. 

pronounce no judgment of its rightness 
or wrongness. 

A man driving through the street of a city loses con- 
trol of his horses. In their mad rush through the 
Problems. strcct a woman is struck and killed. What 
is our moral verdict upon the action } Suppose, how- 
ever, that the driver was careless, that he took the 
middle of the street and turned neither to right nor to 



FEELING AND EMOTION. 20I 

left, nor slackened his pace for anything. Then, though 
his horses were under perfect control, what would be 
the moral verdict if any one should be injured ? Does 
this illustration show that moral emotions are modified 
by the disposition or intention of the person who com- 
mits the willed action ? 

The moral feeling acts, not only in a judicial capac- 
ity, pronouncing the verdict of right and wrong upon 
actions committed by human beings in 

Moral emotion 

their relations with one another ; it also executive as 

well as judicial. 

acts in an executive capacity, regulating 
the conduct by the mandate of its ** ought." In this 
capacity it rises above any of the other emotions thus 
far considered. They, so far as they influence conduct, 
one and all attract us to that which is pleasurable, 
away from the disagreeable and the painful ; this leads 
us in the path of duty, even though in the performance 
of that duty we may suffer the most acute pain. For 
any dereliction in duty, for any act that is judged to be 
wrong, the moral feeling makes us suffer the pangs of 
remorse. Thus we find moral emotions occupying an 
important place in our experience. We deliberate 
upon a course of action and determine whether to enter 
upon it or not by our estimate of the effect upon our 
moral nature. 

Under moral emotions are conscience and religious 



202 ESSENTIALS OF PSYCHOLOGY. 

emotion, the discussion of which is the proper subject 
of ethics. 

We may be asked how the moral emotion, so differ- 
ent in character from the others, came to be developed 
in the human race, and we may not be 

How did moral 

emotions de- able to givc a vcry satisfactory explanation. 

velop ? 

Some have said that it is the direct out- 
growth of egoism. When primitive man found himself 
arrayed against the wild beasts, he made the discovery 
that he could ward off their attacks more effectively by 
allying himself with his fellows for mutual protection. 
The more he diverged from the ''golden rule" in his 
treatment of his allies, the more danger he incurred. 
In this way his duty, what he owed to his neighbor, 
became a fixed idea. 

Others have maintained that God has planted in man 
a special faculty, conscience, to act as the arbiter 
other theories, bctwccn right and wrong. Still others 
claim for the moral emotions a source in instinct, and 
so on. 

Whatever we may think about the source, which is 
a matter of speculative interest only, we may be thank- 

standard con- ^^ ^^^^ cvcry onc has some moral feeling, 
tinuaiiy raised. ^^^ ^j^^^^ though the Standards of morals 

may change as the ages roll on, the normal level is 
being continually raised, so that the race is gradually 



FEELING AND EiAIOTION. 203 

being educated up to a broader moral plane which does 
not permit of human slavery or religious persecution. 

With a word about the effects of emotions, we will 
leave this division of the subject. Nothing is more 
conducive to bodily health than a healthy Effects of 
emotional state. The joyous emotions ^™°*^°"s- 
act upon the body as a tonic. On the other hand, 
grief and its congeners kill. We all know that severe 
physical pain produces a collapse of bodily vigor, even 
an hour's suffering leaving the victim limp and power- 
less. The emotions of anger, fear, and grief react 
upon the nervous system in the same way. 

A professor of history during my college days used 
to say: ''Man is an accursed animal. You can never 
tell which way he is going to jump when Application, 
you touch him." The latter part of the statement is 
certainly true, and it is true because we can never tell 
just what emotion will get possession of a man at any 
time and under any given circumstances. This study 
of emotions through actions constitutes one of the 
chief charms in the study of history. There is gen- 
erally a conflict of emotions raging on the battlefield 
of the mind, and the action is determined by the 
victorious emotions. The pages of history, biography, 
and fiction are covered with the struggles between 
emotions which we allow to influence us and which we 



204 ESSENTIALS OF PSYCHOLOGY. 

judge to be right or wrong. Study the characters of 
Shakspere, for example, as Othello and lago, Macbeth 
and Hamlet. The conflict between jealousy and love, 
envy, hatred, and ambition, ambition and friendship, 
self-pity and duty, is set forth with marvelous skill 
and clearness. 

The next time you wish to do something, but find 
yourself hesitating before you do it, examine into the 
conflict of emotions that is going on within you. 



CHAPTER XII. 

WILL. 

The third great function of mind is willing, and it 
may be necessary, at the outset of our examination 
into the action of the will, to show how The win. 
voluntary action is different from intellectual action on 
the one hand, and from emotional action, or feeling, 
on the other. 

It used to be the custom to say to the student who 
reached this point: '* Now, you know what the intellect 
does, and you know what the sensibil- definition of 
ity does. All in human experience that ^^"' 
comes under neither intellect nor sensibility must 
belong to will." While this is undoubtedly true, it 
hardly satisfies the student. We wish more positive 
information on the subject. The first thing that we 
find to be true is that the great subject which we have 
not yet investigated is action^ and we may remember 
that the will concerns itself with action. We are all 
the time acting or not acting, as a result of willing to 
act or not to act. Every one knows just how it works. 
Illustrate from your own experience. 



2o6 ESSENTIALS OF PSYCHOLOGY. 

But action may be one of two kinds — conscious, and 
unconscious or reflex. Of course only the former can 
„ . , come under the influence of the will, and 

Conscious and ' 

reflex action; ^^ ^^ must belicve that conscious volun- 

latter developed -^ 

from former. ^^yy actlou is dcvelopcd from the lower 
or unconscious action. Watch the movements of the 
infant. At first his bodily movements are not directed, 
nor are they the result of conscious experience. We 
must, then, in considering the development of the will, 
begin with these undirected reflex actions. 

Let us discriminate between intellectual action and 
willing, for which purpose the following illustrations 
Intellect and ^^Y sufficc. You sit in your chair so 
^^"" busily engaged with the contents of your 

book as to be oblivious of all around you. Suddenly 
some one shouts your name. You jump from your 
chair. Was that an action of the will ? No ; for had 
your will been active, you would not have stirred. 
On the other hand, during the silence of the night 
you wake from a sound sleep. A slight noise is 
heard. You raise your head from the pillow and 
strain every nerve to hear what is going on in 
the house. When the attention is aroused, the will 
becomes active. 

Give other examples to illustrate the difference 
Problem. betwccn intellect and will. 



WILL. 207 

What is the difference between feeling and will ? 
Here again the point may be made clearer by an illus- 
tration. I hear that an earthquake shock p^gun ^^d 
has been felt in Japan, and that the homes ^^"" 
of hundreds of people are in ruins. " I am so sorry for 
those poor people," I say, and there the matter prob- 
ably ends. My next neighbor falls from the fourth 
story and is killed, leaving a widow and several chil- 
dren in destitution. I start out at once to render them 
all the assistance in my power. I furnish them food ; 
I try to interest my friends in them. 

Do you see any difference between the two cases ? 
Point it out. The new element in the Problem, 
second case is will. 

We may define will positively, then, as the power 
of action resulting from intellectual and emotional 
processes. It is the will that brings about 

The will : 

results in the world. A person might what it is and 

does. 

have an intellect of the highest power 
and the finest sensibility of which a human being is 
capable, and yet, without the directive action of the 
will, he would never accomplish anything either for him- 
self or for others. It will be interesting to discover 
how this power is developed. 

In the first place, we have already found that, in order 
to study will, we must study action. Why ? Problem. 



2o8 ESSENTIALS OF PSYCHOLOGY. 

But, in order to get at the foundations of these man- 
ifestations of will, we must take the simplest kind of 
action. If we notice the movements of 

Point of depart- 
ure in study the infant, — his throwing about of the 

of will. 

Random move- hauds and his kicks, — it is difficult for 
us to believe that he does these things 
because he wills to do them. These movements, 
though there may be an instinctive element in them, 
we may call random movements. And yet it is right 
here that we must begin to study the development of 
will. The child finds that a pleasurable sensation 
arises from these random movements. His happiness 
is much increased thereby. 

Now, what would be the most natural thing under 
Problem. the circumstauces ? 

This is just what happens, and we find the first 
conscious volition resulting from random experi- 
source in the Guce. Wc may Say that the cause of 
nervous system, ^j^^ggg random movcmcnts lies in the 

condition of the nervous system ; and then we have 
the continuous chain of mental experience from 
the beginning, just as it was explained in the first 
chapter. 

We should avoid falling into the error of supposing, 
as some students of the subject have done, that the 
earliest, or random, movements have in themselves 



WILL. 209 

any trace of volitional action ; nor, on the other hand, 
should we go to the other extreme and Possible errors 
maintain that it is only when the child's ^" ^^^^^^^^^^ 

J much or too 

instincts are aroused to action that we can ^^"^^ importance 

to random 

begin to trace the development of voli- movements. 
tional processes. The matter of itself would seem 
to be of little importance, but the student of physio- 
logical psychology, or psychology from the physiolog- 
ical standpoint, generally leans toward the former, 
while the purely psychical student leans toward the 
latter error. 

The name ''unconscious reflex actions" has been 
given to these random movements to distinguish 
them from the higher forms of movement ^^ 



inconscious 



in which consciousness be2:ins to play ^^t ^°"^':'°^^ 

" ^ -' reflex action 

some part, however slight. Illustrations illustrated. 
may be given to make clear the distinction between 
unconscious and conscious reflex action. A familiar 
example of the former kind, but one which we may 
not care to try, is this : a frog has been decapitated. 
Of course the seat of the frog's consciousness has 
been removed with his head. If a drop of acid be 
placed upon the side of the body, the feet will per- 
form the movements necessary for the removal of the 
irritating substance. Such movements can be nothing 
but reflex. We can hardly place a human subject 



2IO ESSENTIALS OF PSYCHOLOGY. 

under the same conditions, but we can experiment 
upon him when consciousness is dormant if we take 
him in sleep. 

What causes the sleeper to move the hand that 
is touched ? Here we have a case of reflex action 

Problem. without the iutcrposition of consciousness. 
Can you give other examples ? 

An example of conscious reflex action may be 
secured by performing the same experiment given 
Conscious reflex ^bovc upon onc who is engaged in read- 
^^*^°"' ing or study. Advance the point of a 

pencil quietly until it just touches his finger. He will 
withdraw the finger at once. The movement will still 
partake of the reflex nature, but the subject will be 
dimly conscious of what is going on. In both of these 
instances there is a lack of the directive force of the 
will, and yet one differs from the other in the alertness 
of the consciousness. 

Differing from these random reflex movements are 
those which we call instinctive. Here there is a com- 
instinctive pHcation and variety, from the simplest 

movements. class of actions, such as throwing out the 
hands when falling, or the chasing of the mouse by the 
cat, to the intricate series of movements performed by 
the beaver in building his dam, or by the bird which 
builds its first nest. There are two peculiarities about 



WILL. 211 

instinctive actions : first, their origin ; and, second, the 
fact that they are directed toward some definite end. 

Let us study the beaver, for example, in which case 
we shall find both of these peculiarities illustrated. 
The young beaver starts to build his 

Instinctive 

dam by selecting the proper place in the action of the 

beaver. 

stream, clearing away obstructions, cut- 
ting down and drawing the necessary wood; after all 
of which preparations he places everything in position 
and fastens it there. Now, the young beaver builds 
his first dam with just as much skill, and apparently 
with as little effort, as any succeeding one. Why is 
this ? You answer at once. Instinct^ and you are right. 
Instinct prompts all these actions. But who can tell 
just what instinct is } If you consult the dictionaries, 
you will probably learn that it is a blind impulse to 
action directed toward some intelligent end ; but I hope 
you will not be satisfied with that. If you read books 
on natural history, you will learn much about this won- 
derful power "which God has placed in animals to a 
much more marked degree than in man," and you may 
conclude, as many others have done, that these animals 
are superior beings. But let us not be too hasty in 
drawing our conclusions. True, God has given these 
animals a wonderful power, but He has made this power 
dependent upon the physical nature of the animals. In 



212 ESSENTIALS OF PSYCHOLOGY. 

other words, God has given these animals a nervous 
system ; and instinctive action is but a third and higher 
form of reflex action in response to an impulse from 
within. 

The beaver builds his dam because he cannot help 

it, his nervous system being so constituted as to force 

him to act in certain ways under the 

Explanation of ^ 

instinctive influence of certain stimuli. He needs 

action. . . r i • 

no education, tor the laws of his action 
are fixed ; and he needs not to reason, for the same 
cause. 

Give examples of instinctive actions from your own 
observations on the dog, the cat, the hen, birds, etc. 

Problems. Noticc that all these instinctive actions 
seem to have a distinct purpose, but that the end to be 
attained is unforeseen. 

The question has often been asked whether, after 

the first experience, there might not be in later actions 

a memory of the results obtained before, 

Do instinctive 

actions involve which might scrvc as a motive. For 

memory? , , . ^ . ^ , 

example, does the bird that flew south 
at the approach of last winter hold in memory that 
experience, and, when the next frost comes, will she 
make use of that remembered action in determining 
what to do } The answer to this question is, undoubt- 
edly, no. It may seem unreasonable to suppose that 



WILL. 213 

a hen, having hatched out one brood of chickens, has 
no objective idea of the chickens to come by sitting on 
another nest of eggs ; and yet the supposition that she 
has the chicks definitely in view, besides being opposed 
to the fact that she will sit on one china egg just as 
assiduously as on a nest full of real eggs, involves so 
much more than memory that we can hardly call it 
tenable. 

Our only means of learning anything about the 
instinctive actions of animals, more than 

Method of 

the mere observation of those actions studying in- 

^ ^ .. . , . . stinctive action. 

would tell US, IS by observing our own 

instinctive actions and analyzing our own feelings and 

mental processes. 

Take a case that very often occurs. A young 
mother sits in the parlor. Suddenly she hears a 
sound coming from the nursery. She ^^^^ j^ ^^ 
at once starts up and goes to her infant, ^uman instinct. 
The maternal instinct draws her. She finds the child 
sleeping peacefully and returns to her chair. Pres- 
ently she hears another sound. Again she goes to the 
nursery to see whether the child needs her attention. 
Now, why did not the remembrance of what happened 
in the first instance deter the young mother from 
acting in the second ? Simply this : the maternal 
instinct told her that the infant would need her 



214 ESSENTIALS OF PSYCHOLOGY. 

attention if awake. She heard a sound that might 
indicate that the child was awake, and her physical 
system responded to the stimulus thus presented — no 
memory, no reasoning about it. 

The origin of instinctive action is, then, in the physi- 
cal constitution of the animal, which causes him to act 
ori in of in- ^^ Certain ways responsive to external 
stinctive action. ^^ internal stimuli. The end of these 

actions may be immediate or remote. 

In the purposive tendency of instinctive actions we 
find ourselves bordering closely upon the voluntary 
Instinct ^^^^ ^^ ^^^ humau being; and yet it is 

approaches voli- ^ ^ ^^ ^^^^ ^^^ ^^^^^ TCSpOUSe tO a 

tion in its pur- o l l 

posive tendency, physical stimulus to the rational plan of 
volitional action. Wonderful are the results of instinc- 
tive action, but they are wonderful only because the 
rational faculty has no share in them. 

Moreover, because we are in the habit of study- 
ing instinct in the lower animals, should we con- 
clude that we are without instincts ? 
Have we many instincts, or have they 
been trained out of us ? Professor James says, *' No 
other mammal, not even the monkey, shows so large 
a list." Try to form a list of the instincts that 
develop in children. 

If Professor James' statement is correct, and by the 



Human instincts 
Problems. 



WILL. 215 

time you have completed your list you will agree with 
him, why is it that instinct appears to play so small a 
part in human life ? In answer to this question two 
principles may be given. Instincts are ^j^ ^^ ^^_ 
not necessarily permanent. If the proper ^*^"';J^ piay so 

•' ^ ^ ^ small a part in 

action is for any reason prevented when human ufe? 
the instinct begins to develop, the instinct itself is 
held in abeyance or altogether destroyed. Again, 
instincts may be prevented from developing by habits 
already formed as the result of earlier instincts. 
Every act tends to become habitual, and after the 
habit is once formed, it is a difficult matter to break 
it off for a new one. We, with all our mental powers, 
find it difficult, but to the lower animals it becomes 
well-nigh impossible. 

Numerous experiments have been made to establish 
the truth of these principles. In order to keep the 
succession of events clear, it is necessary 

Experiments 

to experiment upon animals that arrive at in developing 

• 1 1 n/r 1 • • instincts. 

maturity quickly. Make some investiga- 
tions for yourself. Examine, for instance, into the 
following instinct of some animal. We know that this 
instinct is developed in the dog. Has the cat the same 
instinct ^ Can you teach a kitten to follow you just 
as you can a dog } Can a chicken be taught to follow 
you just as it follows the hen ? 



2l6 ESSENTIALS OF PSYCHOLOGY. 

Now, all these movements or actions — reflex, impul- 
sive, instinctive — are to serve as the foundation for the 
Aiif».«f^..rro,-n.x hiohcr cxcrcisc of volition, and in the fol- 

All the foregoing o ' 

are preparatory lowiuo^ manner. Thcsc movcmcnts, which 

for voluntary *-* ^ 

^'=*^°"- are unacquired, are observed by the active 

consciousness. The personal factor is here introduced. 
The mind is ever on the watch for materials, and in 
these movements it finds them. Furthermore, the 
mind not only observes the movements, but it also 
observes the effects of the movements upon the physi- 
cal system, and so upon itself. 

The pleasure resulting from certain movements is 
retained, and the representative faculty brings it for- 
-, .,. ^ ward as an imao^e ag^ain and ao:ain until a 

Transition to & o o 

voluntary action, (^ggirc is formcd. Dcsirc sets into action 
the motor impulses necessary for the attainment of the 
desired end, and we have volitional action resulting. 
It remains for us to consider this highest type of 
volition, the new elements in which are desire and 
volitional action. 

Desire is always for something. The child may 
desire candy, because of the anticipated pleasure that 

Nature of ^^ ^^^^^ S^^^f ^^ ^^ ^"^^Y dcsirc relief from 

^^^^^^- the pain consequent upon eating too much. 

In either case the desire is a positive longing for some- 
thing, and in both cases it is for pleasure. Desire is 



WILL. 217 

always accompanied by some idea of the object ulti- 
mately to be attained. In this respect, how does it 
compare with reflex and instinctive action ? 

So materially affected by the power of attention is 
it that many psychologists maintain that Dggjre and 
desire is only a variety of the attentive ^"ention. 
power. This may show how closely desire is related 
to the purely intellectual processes through attention. 
Attention is, then, a very important factor in desire. 

For example, let us suppose that I have received 
a present of a sum of money to spend as I choose. 
Immediately I begin to think over the Example, 
things that I would like to have and to do. Being of 
a studious turn, I may want to increase my library ; 
having a taste for art, I find here an opportunity to 
gratify my taste in the purchase of pictures, and so 
on; or I may take a long-needed rest and enjoy a 
vacation trip. The question is. Which of these things 
do I desire most ? 

As a matter of fact, I can cause the desire for any 
one of them to become more powerful than the others 
by simply centering my attention upon it. ^^.^.^^ ^^ ^^^^_ 
This will throw that particular object of late the desires, 
desire into the foreground, and its prominence will 
tend to magnify its desirability until the others will 
sink into comparative insignificance. 



2l8 ESSENTIALS OF PSYCHOLOGY. 

An interesting subject for investigation right here 

is this : Is it possible to determine beforehand which 

one of the several objects of desire will 

Can we deter- 
mine before- probably gain the ascendency ? We may 

hand which 

desire will pre- prcdict with Certainty that a desire will 

dominate ? , . 

be strong or w^eak m proportion to the 
amount of pleasure anticipated in the gratification ; 
that is, the representative faculty introduces the deter- 
mining element. Do not understand, however, that 
we shall always act according to the strength of the 
desire in the sense just indicated. I may decide to 
give the money presented to me to relieve the distress 
of my indigent neighbor. In this case the gratification 
of the altruistic feelings gives more prospective satis- 
faction than anything that I could obtain for my own 
private pleasure. In a broad sense, the statement that 
our action will be determined by the strength of our 
desire is true, but before we could tell which object of 
desire will result in action, it would be necessary for 
us to know all the antecedents, environments, and con- 
sequent habits of the person. 

Antecedent to desire is a representative idea. Pass- 
ing through the country, I see ripe apples on a tree 
Representation ^car thc road. I dcsirc one to eat. Why ? 
and desire. Bccausc the scusation produced by the 

sight of the apples has set in motion a train of images. 



WILL. 219 

In my mind I taste the apple, which gratifies my 
appetite ; my nervous system acts upon my mind so 
powerfully that a desire is aroused. This desire, when 
analyzed, will be found to possess two distinct char- 
acteristics : (i) a feeling of pleasurable anticipation; 
(2) a conscious tendency toward the gratification of 
the feeling, which will easily result in action. The idea 
thus becomes an active force by sending its message 
along the motor nerves. 

But what of those actions which are imitative in 
their nature, and why does not action follow every 
motor idea ? It may be seen readily that. Tendency of 

motor ideas to 

unless something intervenes to prevent, result in action, 
all motor ideas would at once resolve themselves into 
actions. 

An illustration first given by Professor Huxley, and 
which has been used by many other psychologists, will 
bear repetition here in a somewhat modi- illustration, 
fied form, because it brings out the idea so clearly. A 
discharged soldier was walking to his work one morn- 
ing, when one of his friends, who liked to play practical 
jokes, shouted, "At/^//TiON! " Instantly the ex-soldier 
assumed the proper attitude, dropping his lunch basket, 
the contents of which rolled in the dirt. The sug- 
gested idea brought the usual responsive action. The 
man had been thoroughly drilled as a soldier, but 



220 ESSENTIALS OF PSYCHOLOGY. 

he would have been a far better soldier had he not 
responded to this particular call. Why ? 

Why do we find it easier to trust people who always 
do what they know to be right } How can we develop 

Problems, the power to control actions that have 
become customary in response to certain motor ideas ? 
Shall we conclude that habit may act to modify the 
strength of desire ? 

Why will a child prefer a small, comparatively trivial 
object, if he can have it at once, to a much more valu- 

Probiems. able objcct to be delivered a month hence ? 
Explain the psychological meaning of " A bird in the 
hand is worth two in the bush." 

We often find ourselves imitating the actions of 
other people when we are interested in what they are 
Imitative doiug. If wc are habitually in the com- 

actions. pany of a stutterer, we shall soon find 

our own tongues halting over common words. The 
idea is suggested to our minds, and, our consciousness 
not being on the alert, the appropriate responsive 
action follows. Imitative actions do not reach the 
high level of willed actions. The higher orders of 
the lower animals, such as the monkey, furnish us the 
best examples of imitative actions, along with small 
children and those whose mental faculties are weak or 
altogether lacking. 



WILL. 221 

When the child obeys his parent or teacher with- 
out question, when the soldier obeys the Problem, 
orders of his commanding officer promptly, how are 
these actions related to imitative actions .'' 

It was said in the beginning that desire goes forth 
toward some definite end. Many of our desires, how- 
ever, are mere passing fancies. In pro- 
Motive as the 
portion as our will is trained we put these highest form 

wishes aside, and thus develop the high- 
est form of desire — motive. Motive is the educated 
desire for that which is attainable. Even here there 
is a reactive force, for the will may, by concentrating 
the attention upon any one of a number of attainable 
things, make that one thing the object of special 
desire. So it happens that, while motive constitutes 
an important element of executive volition, the will 
develops and controls the motives. 

Which of the objects of desire shall become the 
motive impelling us to act ? At this point the intel- 
lectual factor in willing appears. My intellectual eie- 
vacation is approaching. How and where ""^"* '" desire, 
shall I spend it ? I desire a change of air and scene. 
Before I go anywhere, I look up the different places 
that will give me what is desired. 

Then, before deciding upon any one of them, I com- 
pare them carefully, weighing their respective merits 



222 ESSENTIALS OF PSYCHOLOGY. 

and demerits, referring each to my limited means to 
Deliberation, ascertain whether I can afford to spend 
my vacation there or not. Before I finish my delibera- 
tions, I am almost ready to give up the trip and remain 
at home. 

But the need of some change urges me on to the 
next step in executive volition — decision or choice. 
T^ . . The choice between the alternatives pre- 

Decision or ^ 

^^°*'^^" sented cuts off the deliberation. The very 

act of choosing or deciding shows that there are at 
least two alternatives, and that these alternatives dis- 
agree with one another in one or more respects. 

In every voluntary act we find ourselves confronted 

with this necessity of choice. Sometimes we come to a 

decision at once without due deliberation, 

Constant neces- 
sity of choosing, and then we are apt to regret it. Many 

Hasty choice. 

Choosing by cL life has bccu wrecked by such hasty 

not choosing. . . . a i • 

decisions. At other times we neglect to 
decide, continuing to deliberate until it is too late to 
influence the event whether we decide one way or the 
other. This deciding by refusing or neglecting to 
decide is apt to be just as fatal as hasty decision. 

We are constantly choosing. I look out of my 
Constant choice ^tudy wiudow and am confronted with" 
and the effects. ^^^ ncccssity of a choicc. Shall I look 
at the houses, the trees, the passers-by, or at the hills 



WILL. 223 

and the river in the distance, or shall I let my gaze 
wander lazily from one to another of these objects? 
What I see will depend upon my choice ; and so we go 
through life constructing a little world of our own, 
broad or narrow, just as we choose. 

In all these choices there is another element besides 
the attractiveness of the alternatives presented, namely, 
the consciousness of perfect freedom in 

Freedom in 

making the decision. I look at the hills making deci- 
and the river, but I know that I could 
look at any of the other things if I preferred. This 
is not the place to give the arguments for and against 
the freedom of the will. It is sufficient for us that we 
know that in every act of life we might have done 
something else had we so chosen. The pages of liter- 
ature are filled with examples of decisions, wise and 
foolish. We judge of the characters in books and of 
the people about us by the nature of the decisions that 
they make, because choices lead to the complex volun- 
tary action that we call conduct. 

Conduct, the last step in willing, sometimes called 
executive volition, is the active element, the result of 
all the gathering of knowledge elements 

Conduct the 

by the senses, the perceptive and repre- resultant of aii 

. . . mental forces. 

sentative processes, mcludmg imagmation 

and thought, feeling and emotion. All these combined 



224 ESSENTIALS OF PSYCHOLOGY. 

forces have for their object the modification and direc- 
tion, the stimulation or repression, of conduct. 

Even deciding to do a thing is valueless unless it is 

carried out into action. In our times, especially, we 

want people who act. Those who talk 

Resolutions 

should be carried glibly, who sccm to f cel deeply, and who 

into actions. . . 

declare their resolutions to accomplish 
great things, can be spared much better than a single 
one who goes ahead and proves his intentions by doing 
something. There is a letter that should be written 
this morning. You resolve to write it, but the morn- 
ing passes, and the letter remains unwritten. You 
know that you ought to learn to-morrow's lessons this 
evening, but after tea you take a short stroll, fall in 
with two or three friends, and soon the evening is 
gone and the lessons are not learned. Perhaps you 
remarked several times that you had determined to 
spend the evening in study. So much the worse for 
you! It is an old saying, ''The road to hell is paved 
with good intentions," which, had they been carried out, 
might have made stepping-stones toward heaven. 

Since conduct is of so much importance in life, we 
may well analyze it and find out, if possible, how it 
Analysis of con- may bc dcvclopcd in the right direction. 

duct and control 

of conduct. We need hardly notice simple actions fur- 

ther, but may devote our attention to courses of action, 



WILL. 225 

the ends of which are more or less remote. Why do 
we spend years in the study of subjects, many of which 
we are quite sure will be of no ''practical" value to 
us in life ? The correct answer will probably suggest 
itself. 

The first element in the control of conduct is intel- 
lectual. The representative power places before me 
images of the pleasures and advantages ^ intellectual 
that will accrue from the present toilsome ^^^™^"*- 
processes. At the beginning of my life as a student 
these images were but few in number and weak in 
power. Consequently, I needed the guidance of a 
stronger hand and a superior wisdom — one that could 
represent for me in so far as my own images were not 
clear. The object of my teachers in those early years 
was, or should have been, to induce me to lay the 
broadest possible foundation, upon which my own 
representative powers would gradually take increasing 
pleasure in building for themselves. 

What kind of teachers should be placed in charge of 
the primary departments of our schools ? Problem. 

As I grew older and kept on studying, the images 
increased in number and vividness until I no longer 
needed the stimulus of outside direction, ^ ,, ,. ^. 

' Self-direction 

these images themselves furnishing all the ^"^^"^'^• 
motive required ; and I became a self-directing student, 



226 ESSENTIALS OF PSYCHOLOGY. 

ready to keep on with my work for an indefinite period 
in order to reach the goal which had become my ideal. 

Thus, the second element in conduct comes to be 
emotional, as the images of future good grow more and 

2. Emotional Hiorc attractive. In my early childhood 
element. j could casily bc led to look upon present 
gratification as more desirable than any future advan- 
tages, because my mind had not attained the power of 
concentration ; my self -directive force was weak, and 
although I had, in a general way, a desire to become a 
definite something when I grew to man's estate, I had 
not the resolution, the firmness of will, to steer my 
course steadily through the means leading to that end. 
Here, again, was the need of teachers and wise guides 
apparent. 

The third element needed for any course of action 

extending over any length of time is this directive 

power — the power of inhibition, as it is 

3. Inhibition as ^ 

element in con- Scientifically known. It is this power that 

duct. 

keeps us in the right road, that puts aside, 
as really inferior to the main thing in view, all desires 
that tend to draw us into bypaths, however attractive 
they may temporarily seem to be. But for this inhib- 
itory power every motor idea would work itself out 
into its customary action. 

Inhibition is the power that enables one idea, to 



Inhibition de- 
fined. 



WILL. 227 

control and divert to its own advantage the usual 

action of another idea. It will be seen 

at once that this power is itself complex, 

containing elements of memory, deliberation, and 

choice. 

Compared with the other powers, inhibition is 
developed late. Children do not possess Developed late. 
it. In many — too many — instances it seems always 
to be weak and uncertain. 

Give examples showing different stages of the devel- 
opment of this power from observations of a domestic 
animal, as the dog or cat, children, people Problems, 
without culture, and those who have received the 
advantages of superior trainin^g. Do the results of 
your observations warrant you in making any state- 
ments about the value of education in controlling 
conduct ? Matthew Arnold says that conduct is three- 
fourths of life. Do you agree with him ? 

A few words concerning the development of self- 
control, which is the aim of education and almost 
synonymous with an educated will, are ^^^ ^^^^ ^^_ 
necessary to make our survey of the sub- "^^^^p^ ^^ ^ ""^*- 
ject complete. We must avoid the mistake of thinking 
that the different faculties are developed one at a time. 
Mental development is a unit. As we educate the 
powers of observation, gathering in the raw material 



228 ESSENTIALS OF PSYCHOLOGY. 

for the mind to work upon, we are at the same time 
forming and increasing the power to image, to think, 
to feel, and to will. 

In childhood the will is a potential force. The first 

step in its development consists in gaining control of 

muscular actions. This, in itself, is no 

Will potential 

in childhood. slight task. The young of the lower ani- 

Muscular control 

first step in mals find themselves at once possessed of 

development. , . . i • i 

the power of coordination which the child 
has to spend many a weary day in acquiring. Then, 
too, think of the hard time he has in learning to write, 
to swing Indian clubs, to play the piano. It is a severe 
strain upon the young will to persist until these and 
kindred arts are mastered. 

The second step comes when the child learns to 
control his feelings. This is harder than the first, for 
Control of feel- ^hcrc is the added psychical difficulty to 
ings second step, ovcrcomc. As the child comes in contact 
with his fellows in games, etc., he finds that it is not good 
policy to give free vent to his feelings. He is jeered 
at and tormented if he does. It is a hard lesson, but 
he soon manages in the school of experience to control 
the expression of his feelings, and gradually, if rightly 
influenced, to control the feelings themselves. Occa- 
sionally, of course, there will come uncontrollable fits of 
passion, but with ever-decreasing frequency, until, so 



WILL. 229 

far as appearances are concerned at least, the feelings 
may always be as calm and tranquil as a summer sea. 

The third step is the control of ideas, which is most 
difficult of all. As already hinted, it is gained through 
the attention. At first the attention is control of ideas 
involuntary, attracted now this way, now ^'^''^^ ^^^^' 
that, as the different stimuli act upon it. Gradually 
the will forces one idea to the front and another to the 
background, and keeps them there. 

Are we responsible for the thoughts that come 

into the mind.? Problems. 

Who has a breast so pure, 
But some uncleanly apprehensions 
Keep leets, and law-days, and in session sit 
With meditations lawful ? 

" lago" in O^ke/lo, Act III, Scene III. 

*'We cannot prevent the birds from circling in the 
air above us, but we can prevent them from making 
their nests in our hair"; and so it is with thoughts. 
If we harbor a thought, allowing it to make a nest for 
itself in our mind, it becomes a part of us. Much, there- 
fore, depends upon our ability to control our ideas. 

We may, to a certain extent, control our beliefs. It 
has been said that a person who repeats a falsehood 
every day for a year will, before the end control of 
of the year, believe that he is speaking the '^^^^^^^• 
truth. The person harbors the false notion, allows 



230 ESSENTIALS OF PSYCHOLOGY. 

it to become a part of himself counts, it as truth, and 
establishes it among his beliefs. 

There is a constant tendency on the part of the 
higher acts of will to lapse into lower forms. An act 
Tendency of oftcn repeated soon begins to lose much 
higher to lapse q£ |^g voluutarv charactcr as it becomes 

into lower -' 

volition. habitual. The formation of correct habits, 

then, has much to do with self-control. 

Character (xapaKrrjp = stamp) is sometimes defined 
as a bundle of habits. In habits there are three con- 
Three control- trolling principles : first, heredity. We 
hng principles ^^ havc inherited from our ancestors 

in habit : ■' 

1. Heredity. ^ tendency to form certain habits. The 
habits themselves can never be inherited, and may be 
prevented from ever showing themselves if the other 
controlling principles are properly attended to. If you 
have a bad temper, for example, do not lay the blame 
on your ancestors, who, no doubt, had faults enough 
of their own without assuming the responsibility for 
yours. 

Second, the surroundings, or environment, have much 
to do with the habits formed. The boy or girl brought 

2. Environment, up in the midst of vicc and cruelty can- 
not be expected to form the same habits as the one 
whose home surroundings have been all that could be 
desired. 



WILL. 231 

Third, the will, which may enable one to rise 
above hereditary tendencies and above 3. wm. 
environment, is the m.ost important factor of all. 

Now, how far may we control these determinants of 
habit, and so the habit itself ? We can- „ , 

' How far may 

not choose our ancestors, but we may Y^ '^o"ti'°i ^^e 

•^ determinants 

exercise a measure of choice in our sur- °^ ^^^^* • 
roundings. People have always been doing that. 

How did Shakspere, Benjamin Franklin, etc., illus- 
trate this power ? Can you logically argue Problems, 
from such examples that the city affords better oppor- 
tunities for cultivating good habits than the country ? 

We may also control our own wills through the 
processes of deliberation and^ choice. The higher 
forms of happiness come only through control of win. 
the consciousness of power — power over one's self, 
power to choose. More than this : the greater the 
number of alternatives from which we may choose, the 
more real pleasure there is in the choice ; and nothing 
gives this greater variety but education. The young 
college graduate has before him many alternatives. 
All the professions are open to him, as well as every 
avenue of business. On the other hand, the unedu- 
cated man finds himself shut out from all but a few 
avenues for his life's journey. The more things we 
can do, and do well, the more satisfactory life becomes. 



232 ESSENTIALS OF PSYCHOLOGY. 

How much truth is there in the line, '' Where igno- 
Probiem. raucc is bHss 't is folly to be wise " ? 

If you wish to form a habit, you must observe two 
rules. Use your will power to force the idea to a 
Method of form- promincnt place in your mind and keep 
ing habits. •^. constantly before you. Put aside all 

that may distract your mind until you have the desired 
habit well under way. You must be constantly on the 
alert to do or not to do. The student who stays at 
home from school because it might storm, or in order 
to practice her music lesson, or to attend the matinee, 
will never amount to much educationally unless these 
bad habits are displaced by good ones. It is not a bad 
practice, for the development of the will, to do some- 
thing that you don't want to do each day. Force 
yourself to do something that you do not like to do, — 
something that is worth the doing, — and you will find 
your character developing, the stamp becoming deeper 
than before, until the ultimate object of education — 
perfect self-control — will appear to be among the pos- 
sibilities of attainment. 



INDEX. 



Abstract ideas i66. 

Accuracy in detecting tones 45 ; 

in localizing sensations 75. 
Action — imitative 220; instinctive 

2ioff. ; reflex 10, 22, 206, 209, 

210 ; voluntary 216. 
Aesthetic — emotions 195, 197 ; 

imagination 152. 
Afferent nerves 8. 
Altruistic emotions 191. 
Animal — hearing 42 ; reasoning 

179, 180. 
Apperception 97. 
Arrangement of nerves 8. 
Artificial light sensations 59. 
Assimilation 123. 
Association 124, 128 ff. ; and per- 
ception 102. 
Associational reasoning 180. 
Attention 104 ff. ; and desire 217; 

and sensations 93. 
Auxiliary principles of thought 

178. 

Beautiful, appreciation of 196. 
Beaver, instinct in the 211. 
Beliefs, control of 229. 
Binocular vision 56, 58. 
Blindness, color 64, 65. 



Blind spot 53. 

Body and mind 7, 

Books and perception 100, loi. 

Brain, development of 19. 

maps 17. 

as seat of mind 7. 

work and temperature of 

body 86. 
Breaking space, illusions caused 

by 69. 

Cause and effect 129. 

Central nervous system 10. 

Cerebellum 15. 

Cerebrum 16. 

Childhood, thought developed in 

162. 
Children, ideals of 153. 
Choice 222; of companions 103. 
Chromatic scale 62. 
Classes of sensations 22. 
Clear percepts 99. 
Cold and hot spot maps 83. 
Color blindness 64, 65. 
Colors 62, 63. 
Communication betvv^een mind and 

matter 8, 21. 
Comparison, standards of 176. 
Complex nature of tastes 26. 



234 



INDEX. 



Complexity of reaction-time 78. 

Composite nature of sounds 43. 

Compound illusions 69. 

Concepts 163 ff. 

Conditions — of memory 134, 140 ; 
of pleasure and pain 1S3 ff. 

Conduct 223 ff. 

Connection between successive 
images 127. 

Conscious and reflex action 206. 

Consciousness and attention 105. 

Constructive imagination 149. 

Contact spots 85. 

Contiguity, law of 128. 

Control — of beliefs 229 ; of feel- 
ings 228 ; of ideas 229 ; of 
muscles 228; of uill 231. 

Cord, spinal 10, 12. 

Cortex 18. 

Creative imagination 1 50. 

Criticism 154. 

Curiosity in intellectual emotions 
193- 

Deafness — tone 46 ; common to 

all 47 ; of the aged 44. 
Deception of the senses 6. 
Decision 222. 
Deductive reasoning 175. 
Desire 216 ff. 
Detection of tones 45. 
Development — of brain 19; of 

nerve cells 18. 
Discrimination 123. 
Distortion of objects 68. 

Ear as organ of hearing 36 ; sen- 
sitiveness of 37. 
Education and attention 118. 



Effect — of attention on sensa- 
tions 93 ; of motion on touch 
76; of physical conditions on 
sensations 93 ; produced by illu- 
sions 70 ; of touch upon taste 26. 

Efferent nerves 8. 

Elements of perception 94. 

Emotions 186 ff.; aesthetic 195; 
altruistic 191 ; egoistic 190; in- 
tellectual 193; moral 200; and 
sense feelings 187 ; of the sub- 
lime 199. 

Environment and habits 230. 

Errors in observation 5, 6. 

Experience affects knowledge 98. 

Extensive meaning of terms 167. 

Eye, the 50 ff. 

Eyes, testing 60, 61. 

Factors determining power of at- 
tention 105, 106. 

Fatigue — of attention 119; of 
smell 34. 

Fechner's law, 28. 

Feeling and will 207. 

Feeling of the ludicrous 199. 

Feelings 181 ; control of 228; and 
sensations 182 ; varieties of 
185 ff. 

Few isolated impressions 127. 

Field of vision 55, 65. 

" Fish stories " caused by illusions 
70. 

Five senses 23, 24. 

Flavors 26. 

Focusing attention 107. 

Formation — of images 125 ; of 
percepts 95. 

Function — of cerebellum 1 5 ; of 



INDEX. 



235 



nerves 8 ; of senses 23 ; of 
spinal cord 10. 

Galton's whistle 42. 
Ganglia 9. 

General sensations 23. 
Green blindness 64. 

Habit — and association 129 ; and 
attention 117; controlling prin- 
ciple in 230 ; and its effect upon 
life 118. 

Habits, method of forming 232. 

Harmony — between sight and 
other senses 49 ; of sounds 43. 

Hasty inferences 177. 

Hearing 36 ff. ; of animals 42 ; 
memory 136, 137. 

Heredity and habit 230. 

Hot and cold spot maps 83. 

Houdin's method of cultivating 
perception 99. 

Human — instinct 21 3, 214; reason 
vs. animal 180. 

Humor 199. 

Hypnotism 119. 

Ideals, formation of 1 52 £f. 

Ideas — abstract 166 ; control of 
229 ; motor 219. 

Illusions 66 ff . 

Images 125 ff.; differ from con- 
cepts 166. 

Imagination 146 ff. ; aesthetic 152 ; 
constructive 148; creative 150; 
processes of 148; in observa- 
tion 5. 

Imitative actions 220. 

Implicit reasoning 173. 



Impressions — depth of 134; sel- 
dom isolated 127. 

Inaccuracy of memory 136. 

Inductive reasoning 173 ff. 

Inferences, hasty 177. 

Inhibition 227. 

Instinctive movements 210. 

Intellect and will 206. 

Intellectual element in desire 221. 

Intellectual emotions 193. 

Intensity — of light 59 ; and qual- 
ity of sensations 92, 93 ; of 
sounds 40 ; of tastes 29, 

Intensive meaning of terms 167. 

Intentional memory 137. 

Intermittent pressure 81. 

Introspection i, 6. 

Intuitive formation of judgments 
172. 

Involuntary attention 108. 

Judgment, a process of thought 

i68£f. 
Judgment of distance 56. 

Kindergarten 21, 91. 

Kinds — of attention 108; of 

memory 135. 
Knowledge — and experience 98 ; 

gained through the ear 44 ; 

through sight 50 ; through taste 

30 ; and sensations 90, 94. 

Law — for threshold of sensation 
27 ; Weber's or Fechner's law 
28. 

Laws — of association 1 28 ff. ; of 
attention 109 ff. 

Light 58 ff. 



236 



INDEX. 



Limitations — of hearing 42 ; of 
mind power 19 ; of sensation 
91 ; of vision 56. 

Limits of field of vision 55. 

Literature and intellectual emo- 
tions 194. 

Localization of sensations 74, 

75- 
Lower animals, smell of 31, 32. 

Maps — brain 17, 18; hot and 
cold spot 83. 

Materials, how furnished to mind 
20. 

Mechanism of the eye 50. 

Medulla oblongata 12 ff. 

Memory 122 ff.; circumstantial 
139; exalted 141 ; and imagina- 
tion 147; improvement of 142 £f. ; 
kinds of 135 ff.; philosophic 
140 ; spontaneous and inten- 
tional 137; and thought 163. 

Mental power and the Kinder- 
garten 91. 

Methods — of comparing and test- 
ing colors 63 ; of forming habits 
232 ; of obtaining reaction-time 
79 ; of psychologic study i H. 

Middle term in reasoning 176. 

Mind 7, 14, 19, 21. 

Mnemonics 142. 

Monocular vision 52. 

Moral emotions 200 ff. 

Motion as affecting touch y6. 

Motive 221. 

Motor ideas tend to action 219. 

Movements — instinctive 210 ; 
random 208, 210. 

Muscles, control of 228. 



Muscular sensations 86. 
Musical tones 39. 

Nature of mind 7. 

Need of mental exercise 20. 

Nerve — cells 18 ; ganglia 9. 

Nerves — arrangement 8; functions 
8 ; from eyes 51 ; spinal 11. 

Nervous systems, central, periph- 
eral 10. 

New Psychology 2. 

Noises and musical tones 39. 

Normal temperature 85. 

Nostrils 34. 

Object of reasoning 177. 

Objects of attention 106. 

Observation 5. 

Odors 32, 23- 

Office of senses 89. 

Old Psychology i, 3. 

Organ — of hearing ^y ; of smell 

31- 

Overtones 43. 

Percept 95 ; and image 125. 
Perception 94 ff . ; and associations 

102 ; and imagination 147 ; 

images in 126; and the senses 

loi ; and thought 162; training 

of 102. 
Perceptions, transference of 96. 
Perceptive power — in youth 99 ; 

and books 100. 
Percepts - — clear 99 ; touch and 

sight 96. 
Peripheral nervous system 10, 20. 
Phenomena 7, 74. 
Physical conditions and sensations 

93- 



INDEX. 



237 



Physical expression of emotions 

188. 
Physical system and imagination 

156. 
Pitch of sounds 41. 
Pleasure — in intellectual emotions 

194; and pain 182 £f. 
Possibilities of smell in man 32. 
Power — of attention 105, 106 ; 

to form ideals 154 ; of memory 

122 ff.; of mind 19; of nerve 

ganglia 9. 
Prejudice in observation 6. 
Prerequisites to sensation 91. 
Pressure — intermittent 81 ; and 

sound 37 ; and touch 72. 
Primary colors and pigments 63. 
Processes — of imagination 148 ; 

of sight 52; of thought 163. 
Progress 171. 

Psychology — schools and meth- 
ods I ff. ; defined 3 ; deals with 

phenomena 7. 
Puzzling sense of touch ^d. 

Quality and intensity of sensations 

92 ff. 
Quality of sounds 43, 44. 

Random movements 211. 

Range of hearing 37. 

Reaction between imagination and 
feelings 153. 

Reaction-time 77 ff. 

Reading and mind study 6. 

Reasoning 173 ff. ; associational 
179, 180; deductive 175, 176; im- 
plicit 173; inductive 173 ; object 
of 177. 



Recognition 124. 

Red blindness 64. 

Reflex action 10, 22, 206, 209, 210. 

Reinforcement of sounds 45 ; of 

tastes 29. 
Re-presentation 121 ; and desire 

218. 
Reproduction 124. 
Retention 124, 
Retina 51. 
Rotary sensations 87. 

Scientific experiment and mind 

study 2, 6. 
Seasickness 88. 
Seat of mind 7. 
Secondary laws of association 

i3off. 
Seeing 50 ; with one eye 52 ; in 

relief 56. 
Selection of sense elements 104. 
Sensation 89; limitations 91; 

threshold of 27. 
Sensations — classes of 22, 23 ; 

and attention 93; and feelings 

182 ; intensity of 92 ff . ; and 

knowledge 90, 94 ; of light 59 ; 

localization of 74 ; muscular 86 ; 

rotary 87 ; touch 72. 
Sense impressions and imagination 

154- 

Senses — five 23, 24 ; office of 89 ; 
and perception loi. 

Sensibility 181. 

Sensitiveness — of the ear y] ; of 
persons and parts of body 73 ; 
to pressure and touch 72. 

Shape of sounding body and qual- 
ity 44. 



238 



INDEX. 



Sight 49 ff . ; percepts 96 ; percep- 
tion, how trained 102. 

Similarity and contrast 129. 

Sleep and laws of association 133. 

Smell 31 ff.; fatigue of 34; and 
taste 26. 

Sounds 40 ff. 

Sounds produced by pressure 37 ; 
reinforcement of 45. 

Spinal cord 10 ff. 

Spontaneous memory 137, 138. 

Standards of comparison 176; of 
taste 198. 

Stereoscope 57. 

Sympathy, 192. 

Taste 24 ff. ; and sight 49 ; stand- 
ards of 198. 

Temperature 82 ff. ; and taste 30. 

Tendency — of mind to act as be- 
fore 171 ; of motor ideas toward 
action 219. 

Thought 161 ff.; auxiliary princi- 
ples of 178 ; affected by emotion 
189 ; relations 178. 

Threshold — law for 27 ; of light 
58, 59 ; of sensation 27 ; of 
taste 27 ; of touch 81. 



Tone 39; accuracy in detecting 
45 ; deafness 46. 

Touch 72 ff. ; and sight 49 ; and 
taste 26 ; and temperature 82. 

Touch percepts 96. 

Training children and Psychol- 
ogy 4- 

Transference of perceptions 96. 

Undertones 43. 
Unsteadiness of the eye 54. 

Value of the Kindergarten 91. 
Variations of sounds 40. 
Varieties of imagination 148; of 

tastes 25. 
Vision 52 ff. 
Voluntary — action 216 ; attention 

108, 115. 

Weber's law 28. 

Will 205 ff. ; control of 231 ; free- 
dom of 223. 
Wit 199. 

Youth time to develop mental 
powers 99. 



SOLUTIONS, ANSWERS, NEW PROBLEMS. 



